{"id":766061,"date":"2026-06-28T16:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T16:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/766061\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T16:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T16:38:21","slug":"belgian-national-championships-shari-bossuyt-outpowers-lotte-kopecky-for-emotional-bunch-sprint-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/766061\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgian National Championships: Shari Bossuyt outpowers Lotte Kopecky for emotional bunch sprint victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) took a hardfought but clear triumph in the Belgian Nationals Road Race <\/a>on Sunday, outpowering leading favourite Lotte Kopecky<\/a> (SDWorx-Protime) in a small group sprint for her first ever senior title.<\/p>\n

The recent winner of a stage of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a>, and the GP de Wallonie back in 2025, Bossuyt’s victory is the latest chapter of a dream comeback following a two-year suspension for banned substance Letrozole. <\/a><\/p>\n

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The 137-kilometre course starting in Antwerp and finishing in Brasschaat saw multiple options go clear, and it was only in the closing part of the course that it became certain a bunch sprint, of some 30-35 riders, would definitively materialise.<\/p>\n

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Given the rollercoaster recent past, Bossuyt’s win ahead of Kopecky and Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9’s Sandrine Tas carried huge importance for the 25-year-old, who was in tears after the finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many emotions\u2026 that I am crying here,\u201d she said, according to Nieuwsblad.<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis surpasses everything. I hope this is the start of something very beautiful. I was already super happy with that stage in the Vuelta and that this\u2026 I have no words for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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“I had actually already put that difficult period behind me, but on a day like today, it all comes back to the surface. I shouldn’t cry\u2026 but still. Getting to wear that jersey in the Tour de France is going to be very beautiful.”<\/p>\n

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2026 Belgian National Championships WE race: a split begins to form (Image credit: Getty Images)How it unfolded<\/p>\n

Early attacks allowed first Jan Dobbelaere and the veteran Loes Sels (Belco-Van Eyck) to get away, but only with a minimal advantage and they were caught three laps out. The first of the late attacks, made by Bossuyt’s teammate Julie Van de Velde (AG Insurance – Soudal) also failed to work out.<\/p>\n

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However, Van de Velde’s move sparked a much more dangerous mass move, containing defending champion Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) and no less than three Fenix-Premier Tech racers: Lotte Claes, Julie De Wilder and Xaydee Van Sinaey in a group of nine. This break was powerful enough to stay away for nearly 20 kilometres, and even when it was, Ghekiere took advantage of a cobbled sector to try and stay away.<\/p>\n

Ghekiere’s move was then backed by Tas – later third – and young Belgian sprinter Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek), and Moors went for it again in the final kilometres. AG Insurance-Soudal were working hard for a sprint by that stage, though, and a few minutes later, Bossuyt paid off all their hard work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Justine Ghekiere was away with Tas and Moors, I told her not to ride along, because that was a dangerous situation,” Bossuyt later told Nieuwsblad.<\/a><\/p>\n

“When everything came back together, it worked out well for me. Moors had already done quite a bit of work at the front, so I just kept an eye on Lotte. With 250 meters to go, I launched my sprint. I felt I was in control.\u201d<\/p>\n

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2026 Belgian National Championships: the final podium for the elite women’s road race (Image credit: Getty Images)Results<\/p>\n

Results powered by FirstCycling<\/a><\/p>\n

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2026 Belgian National Championships Women Elite Road Race Results (Image credit: FirstCycling)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) took a hardfought but clear triumph in the Belgian Nationals Road Race on Sunday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-766061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}