GVA Trofee - Krawatencross 2011

February 5, Elite Men:

Pauwels bests Stybar in Lille

By:

Brecht Decaluwé

Published:

February 5, 2011, 16:10,

Updated:

February 5, 2011, 17:27

Nys nets another podium place, leads Pauwels in series

Sven Nys collapsed after the sprint in Lille

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Kevin Pauwels (Telenet-Fidea) won a star-studded sprint in Lille, Belgium on Saturday afternoon in the seventh round of the Gazet van Antwerpen Trophy. The Belgian held off world champion Zdenek Stybar (Telenet-Fidea), Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet), Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) and Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea) in a tight sprint finish. Pauwels moves to within two points of Nys in the overall rankings.

Stybar led out the sprint ahead of Nys but Pauwels timed his sprint to perfection and blasted past everyone at the last moment.
“I sprinted to be ahead of Nys but because I was out of the wind I had much more speed. Suddenly Stybar was also within my reach,” Pauwels said.

The mild weather conditions made for fast racing on the technical course at the nature park around the lake in Lille. The group of five leaders formed on the third lap of the race. Before that Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) was led but last week's dose of laryngitis took its toll on the young Belgian. His place in the front group was taken over by Wellens who was the only rider to come back from behind. Wellens moved forward out of a group with Sven Vanthourenhout (Sunweb-Revor) and Jonathan Page (Planetbike) during the second lap of the race. At the end of the second lap Stybar took the three bonus points at the intermediate sprint, ahead of Pauwels (2) and Nys (1).

In the lead group of five, Stybar and Pauwels were the most active riders and both tried to thin out the group. Nys played to his pre-race tactics and focused on keeping Pauwels under control. “At that moment I was only thinking about the overall rankings. Kevin had a very good day. I've never seen him taking this much initiative. I wanted to arrive in a group and try to put some men between him and myself,” Nys said.

As the leaders hit the penultimate lap Wellens tried to exploit the rivalry between Nys and Pauwels with a surprise attack. This time it was Albert who took the initiative to close the gap. “All race long I was forced to stay on the wheels because I was at my limit. My attack was a desperate move because I was the worst of the five. Anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Wellens said.

Stybar led most of the lap with Nys sticking on his wheel, followed by Pauwels, Albert and Wellens. Pauwels and Albert tried to move up in the last sections but eventually they cornered up the road in the same order. As Nys was unable to overtake the world champion it seemed as Stybar would win for the first time in his career in Lille.

“I rode for the win,” Stybar said,” but twenty metres before the line I sat up as I felt that Nys wouldn't overtake me. I was only watching Nys' front wheel and didn't see Kevin coming up. It's too bad because last year's Nys beat me here in the sprint, and now it's Kevin,” Stybar said. After crossing the line Nys couldn't avoid crashing into Pauwels' bike, seemingly without major damage. “I couldn't stop and tried to brake with my heel. I had to do something because that corner came right after the finish line. Otherwise I would've tumbled right into the VIP-tent,” Nys said.

Philipp Walsleben (BKCP-Powerplus) made up for a poor start by clocking the fastest lap of the race. The German champion takes home a €1000 bank cheque.

On Sunday afternoon the penultimate round of the Superprestige Series is held in Hoogstraten, Belgium. In two weeks time the GvA Trophy will be decided during the last round in Oostmalle, Belgium.
 

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