By Brecht Decaluwé Sunday brought another Superprestige race and yet another demonstration of...
Sven Nys (Rabobank) roars into the finish finish. (Image credit: Luc Claessen)
By Brecht Decaluwé
Sunday brought another Superprestige race and yet another demonstration of dominance by Sven Nys, the cannibal from Balen. Nys gained the maximum number of 30 points toward the overall series, beating young Zdenek Stybar by 21 seconds. Despite the defensive racing style from the riders during the first half of the race, a group of fifteen riders was alone in front. World champion Erwin Vervecken dropped away from the leading group when he suffered a mechanical.
After an attack from Richard Groenendaal four men got away including Nys, Wilant Van Gils and Stybar. Behind them Bart Wellens tried to come back but he never reached the leaders, mainly because Nys took over the command. The UCI-leader kept going; he first got rid of the two Dutchmen, and with less than three laps to go Stybar got dropped as well after a minor mistake in the sand pit.
Wellens, Stybar, Van Gils and Groenendaal got together behind Nys who kept developing his lead over the chasers. Nys eventually won his 40th Superprestige race with a 21 second margin over Stybar, who stayed clear of Wellens by just two seconds.
"If you can finish this, then you can understand that I've got a broad smile," Nys reacted after the race. "It was me against the rest, only Groenendaal wanted to take initiative but sadly enough he couldn't follow later on. Why is Stybar not co-operating?" Nys wondered. It seemed like Stybar couldn't follow and the Czech rider confirmed that on VT4 TV. "If I am dead then I can't go to the front," Stybar reacted in his typical broken English.
