Nys wins in Belgium

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The seventh round of the Gazet van Antwerpen Trophy in Lille, hometown of the retiring Erwin Vervecken, turned out to be the ideal opportunity for Belgian champion Sven Nys to strengthen his lead in the Belgian competition.

Nys formed a two-man lead break with recently crowned World Champion Zdenek Stybar, and both riders held off a surge from Niels Albert, who is Nys' closest rival in the GvA-Trophy. With Albert out of a chance for the win, the two leaders battled for the day's win on the sandy course. Nys tried to shake off Stybar, but the World Champion hung on. The pair headed for a two-man sprint in which Nys surprisingly bested the Czech champion.

Nys' sixth win in Lille was his fourth win of the season in the GvA-Trophy. With only one round left Nys is now comfortably leading the competition with 14 points on both Stybar and Albert.

"It wasn't a sprint like those at the start of the season. It was a sprint of riders who suffered at the end of the season," Nys said.

The World Champion Stybar led out the long sprint, but he couldn't keep his front position until the line. "It's a long finishing straight to hold the lead," Nys said of how he was able to win the sprint. "I tried a couple of times during the race, but it's not easy to shake off Stybar. I did think that I was a little bit better than him, and during the penultimate lap, I let him take the lead to see if he had a move left."

The Belgian champion had caught a cold this week and was unsure before the race if he would be able to battle Albert and Stybar. "My nose was clogged, but the legs were open," Nys said with a big smile on his face. "I didn't have a fever, but you can hear it in my voice. I'm taking antibiotics, which is something I only do in exceptional cases; it's the first time in two years. But if you can win one of the big competitions then it's worth taking the risk," said Nys to Sporza.

When asked if he was now certain about the overall win in the GvA-Trophy Nys said," I can still crash a couple of times, but for sure it's a bonus to start the last round with a 14-point margin on those guys. I just have to focus on Albert and not allow him to lead the race too much," said Nys who didn't seem worried about Stybar, who's current second overall in the series with Albert.

World Champion Stybar is known to be faster on the line than Nys, but he had to settle for second place. After a busy week that included several obligations and a mid-week race in Maldegem, where he finished on a distant seventh place. "After Maldegem, I feared that I lost my World Championships form and that I wouldn't be able to show my rainbow jersey. I didn't feel good during the start of the race, but the second half was better."

"I had already lost an intermediate sprint and then tried to start the finishing sprint from the front, but that was too long. I waited for Sven, but I didn't have any force left to counter him. I was glad that I could ride for the victory," Stybar said to Sporza.

"I enjoyed the race. All those people were cheering me on, 'come on Stybi', and if you can ride in the lead with Sven Nys then it's super nice," Stybar said.

On the very first lap, Nys created a gap on his major rival Albert. The latter got stuck in traffic while Nys was hammering away in front. Only Stybar and Enrico Franzoi were able to keep up with the Belgian champion. After one lap, the three leaders had a gap over the rest of the field where Albert was riding at 14 seconds in 10th position.

Meanwhile local hero Erwin Vervecken was unable to take profit from his good start as he broke his derailleur far from the pit.

Franzoi struggled in the sand, and the Italian had say bye to Nys and Stybar during the second lap. Both leaders shared pulls in front, helping the gap to first chaser Kevin Pauwels grow to eight seconds after two laps.

Nys won the intermediate sprint for three bonus points ahead of Stybar and Pauwels. Bart Aernouts chased at 11 seconds while Albert was accompanied by Sven Vanthourenhout, Gerben de Knegt and Dieter Vanthourenhout at 19 seconds.

Stybar led most of the third lap, and he dropped the pace somewhat to allow his teammate Pauwels to join him. Albert also came back with Aernouts and Sven Vanthourenhout to within 11 seconds of the three leaders.

Nys didn't fancy a comeback from Albert, though, and he hammered through the fourth lap. Pauwels quickly dropped back, and Stybar was gapped too. The World Champion returned to Nys' wheel, and the Czech was then confronted with a flat tyre. Being close to the pit, he was lucky enough to minimize damages and stay near Nys.

Albert lost time on the two leaders in the technical, sandy sections and halfway through the race the young Belgian - riding together with Pauwels, Aernouts and Sven Vanthourenhout - was 17 seconds down on Nys and Stybar.

Stybar fended off a few more accelerations from Nys in the sand. Behind the two leaders, Albert was able to shake off Aernouts and Sven Vanthourenhout, while Pauwels was sticking on his wheel. Vanthourenhout kept the first two chasers in sight, trailing them for the remainder of the race at about five seconds.

During the penultimate lap, Nys offered Stybar the lead and the Belgian champion almost was dropped when he rode into a pole on the inside of a corner while trying to cut a corner too short. Eventually Stybar led out the two-man sprint, in which Nys showed grit and slowly powered past the World Champion.

In the sprint for third place, Vanthourenhout almost surprised Pauwels and Albert with a late return but eventually Pauwels pipped Albert in the long sprint. Pauwels' third place resulted in him moving up from sixth to fourth in the overall classification of the GvA-Trophy.

In two weeks, the Gazet van Antwerpen Trophy comes to a conclusion with its last round in Oostmalle.

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