Pauwels wins in messy GP Sven Nys

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There was no Sven Nys (Crelan) in his new team kit in the GP Sven Nys on New Year's Day in Baal, Belgium. The sixth round in the Bpost Bank Trofee series was confronted with the absence of the popular home rider due to illness. Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb – Napoleon Games) didn't mind and gratefully grabbed the flowers on a muddy Tuesday afternoon at the Balenberg in Baal. Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) has finished as runner-up five times in Baal but he once again had to settle for second place in 2013. Pauwels pleased his new co-sponsor Napoleon Games with a nice win at the start of the new year.

"That makes it extra nice. First I followed Stybar but then I rode away without even wanting to start a solo. It was early but I'm going better every time on these demanding courses," Pauwels said to Sporza.

World champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) controlled the damage by finishing third despite a ill-timed flat tyre. "This race remains my unlucky race. The first two laps were bad but from there I got going. Then I punctured right after the pit and my race was over. Too bad because I felt like I could bridge back up to the front. I was keen on trying to win here but when you're thrown backwards due to bad luck...I lost my morale," Albert said.

The world champion comfortably remains overall leader in the Bpost Bank Trofee series. He leads Pauwels by 3:53 in the general classification. Absent man Nys tumbled down the classification to seventh place at 10:10 from Albert. "It's a big gap knowing that there's two fast races coming up."

Pauwels' teammate Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb – Napoleon Games) claimed his part of the attention by leading the first two laps of the race. Vantornout gathered no more than 12 seconds on a large group of riders where Albert needed some time to recover from a bad start. By the third of seven laps Stybar powered forward on the muddy course around the Balenberg. At first Stybar's move was marked by Pauwels, Albert and Vantornout but half a lap later only Pauwels was capable of keeping up with the Czech rider. Early on in the fourth lap Pauwels took over command from Stybar and the latter had to bow his head for the superiority of the Belgian.

"Kevin was the strongest man today although I was enjoying the best day of my cyclo-cross campaign. I decided to ride in front at my own pace but I made too many mistakes to win. Even without mistakes I would not have won," Stybar said.

Pauwels dealt best with the tough muddy conditions and every lap he took about twenty seconds on chaser Stybar. At the finish Pauwels had a gap of more than a minute on Stybar. Albert was third at short distance. Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea) was best of the second chasing group ahead of Vantornout and Thijs van Amerongen (AA Drink – Leontien.nl). Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea) won the fight for seventh place, powering forward in the last lap and finishing ahead of Bart Aernouts (AA Drink – Leontien.nl) and a strong Jonathan Page. The American rider held off Radomir Simunek (Kwadro-Stannah) who showed off his new team kit.

The last two rounds of the Bpost Bank Trofee series are held on February 9 and 24 in Lille and Oostmalle.

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