Zdenek Stybar beats Kevin Pauwels to take Superprestige Hamme-Zogge 2011- Cycling News
World champion Zdenek Stybar of Quick Step Cycling Team put up a tremendous performance and bagged his first big victory in Superprestige Hamme-Zogge 2011 on Sunday, November 13.
Stybar increased his pace in the last kilometres and managed to take the win home. He set the fastest time of 1 hour, 4 minutes and 20 seconds to cover the distance of the stage.
After finishing the stage, Stybar said, “I felt that every weekend it was going better. I have no specific goals this season because I just want to enjoy cyclo-cross. During the last lap I was all smiles and had goose bumps. It's unbelievable to realize that thousands of people are applauding you."
Kevin Pauwels of Sunweb-Revor was unable to hand victory to his team manager and grabbed the second place with a difference of 9 seconds.
It was clear that creating gaps on a fast course is quiet difficult for the cyclists but Stybar, Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) and Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) still managed to get away.
In the fifth lap of the race, Pauwels led the pack and increased his pace, creating a small lead with three cyclists, Nys, Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) and Stybar.
Nys showed good sprinting ability but Stybar powered away in the next lap. Stybar said, "Sometimes you have to go and try. I knew that it [tactical cease-fire] was going on behind me. If you have 15 seconds on a course like this it's difficult to be caught back".
The chase group tried its best to catch Stybar. The Belgian champion, Nys, increased his speed and followed him but failed, resulting in Stybar crossing the finish-line ahead of the other cyclists.
Recently, Stybar won the Czech Republic National Championships and UCI Cyclo-cross World Championship. He also took the World Cup Cyclo-cross in Aigle and Plzen in 2010.
Nys grabbed the third place and was pleased with his performance in the race. Albert finished fourth and his teammate, Radomir Simunek, landed in the fifth place, with a difference of 31 seconds.
Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea), Mariusz Gil (Baboco) and Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) were in seventh, eighth and ninth place, respectively.
After three rounds Niels Albert took the overall Superprestige standing of the race with 42 points. Nys was in the second spot, 39 points down, while the stage winner, Stybar, finished third with 37 points, ahead of Bart Aernouts (Rabobank-Giant Off-Road Team).
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