Nys shakes off Stybar to win Grote Prijs Sven Nys

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Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) won the GP Sven Nys in his hometown Baal for the tenth time in his career, beating world champion Zdenek Stybar (Telenet-Fidea) in an exciting duel. After six rounds Nys becomes the new overall leader of the GvA Trophy, pushing back Kevin Pauwels (Telenet-Fidea) into second place.

“This feels great because it wasn't a pleasure to ride out there in the cold. I had to push it to the limit to win today and that wasn't easy.

"Technically Stybar is so skillful and I had to throw all my cards on the table to get past him. Today I won thanks to my strength and experience. I'm happy, also for the people who came out to support me today,” Nys said on Sporza TV.

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The conditions in Baal were tough, with icy water covering most of the 2,750 metre-long course. During the first lap Lars Boom (Rabobank) powered forward but the Dutch champion abandoned after falling on a fast descent while leading the race.

Stybar and Pauwels took over while Nys was riding outside the top 10. Nys surged forward to the front of the race during the second lap and grabbed the three bonus points ahead of Stybar (2) and Pauwels (1).

“If there wouldn't have been three points at stake I would've taken more time to move up. These are busy racing days and I'm beginning to feel that,” Nys said.

The duo of Nys and Stybar worked together to hold off the return from Albert, who needed more time than Nys to move up and come back.

“Then I started to make mistakes. I wasn't having the legs to start a duel with Nys anyway. It was no use to persist,” Albert said.

“There were other races where I suffered more from the cold so today was quite alright,” Albert said.

Despite several accelerations Nys and Stybar raced together into the last lap in which the Czech was able to hold the lead when storming up the climb. “I wanted to make sure I was leading on the climb but Stybar didn't allow it,” Nys said.

Stybar stormed back down the climb and seemed to have the best position to start the sprint. Suddenly Nys moved passed Stybar before tackling a 180 degree corner. “I was riding in a bad track. I was shocked to see Nys pass me. That's probably why I made a small mistake in the corner too,” Stybar said.

Nys was delighted with his tenth victory in Baal while Stybar seemed to be pleased with his performance too. Albert rounded out the podium at more than a minute from Nys.

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