Nys splashes to victory in Hoogstraten

By Brecht Decaluwé

One day after the heroic battle between Niels Albert and Sven Nys in the GvA Trophy race, it was the latter who had clearly recovered better and Nys came out swinging. The Belgian champion Nys unleashed his force and fury in the mud of Hoogstraten just before the halfway point of the race, and build up an impressive lead to win the so-called strawberry-cross. World Champion Albert emerged from a chasing group with Bart Wellens and Zdenek Stybar to secure second place.

With just one round left for the overall ranking of the Superprestige Series, Nys pulled away from Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb), who was only able to come in fifth place and now lags six points behind Nys in the standings. Nys, however, is not ready to call himself the overall winner.

"The past taught me that the overall victory is only decided after the last race; I'll remain focused. Too bad that I lost valuable points in Diegem," Nys said. "One can never sell a bear's skin before it was shot... or something like that," Nys said.

Continue to the full report, results and photos.