Zdenek Stybar registered his first road victory after a disappointing start to his cyclo-cross season
Zdenek Stybar wins the fourth stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk and secured his first road victory since 2011.
Stybar finished the 183.3 kilometre race in a fastest time of 4 hours, 38 minutes and 27 seconds and occupied the top podium spot.
He overcame Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez with a good lead of 10 seconds and Thomas Voeckler finished further 5 seconds behind at the third position.
The cyclist was delighted after winning the queen stage of the race and briefed that he was desperate in need of the victory and it came at a perfect time.
Zdenek had a disappointing cyclo-cross season and decided to devote his attention towards the road racing for the remaining part of the year.
He has now admitted that his decision to focus at only one discipline of sport was correct and it has already paid him back.
"It is super for me, but really the most important win for me too. I proved I can win also on the road. A lot of people said it wasn't possible, and now I showed it was possible," Stybar briefed.
"When I chose to ride on the road bike I only listened to my heart and it was the right thing to do. Now I am really, really happy”.
“When I crossed the finish line I couldn't believe I won the race. I was thinking maybe someone was in front of me”.
Stybar’s stage win was enough to help him with the second overall spot after the final general classifications of the race.
Jimmy Engoulvent of Team Saur-Sojasun occupied the top spot and the Czech cyclist missed the first position with a mere margin of 3 seconds.
John Degenkolb of Team Argos-Oil-Shimano achieved the third position with Carlos Alberto of Team Acqua & Sapone and Thomas Voeckler of Team Europcar at the fourth and the fifth positions in the respective order.
The 26-year-old was advised by his Team Manager Patrick Lefevere to pick one out of the two cycling disciplines.
Patrick was delighted after Stybar’s stage win and noted that it was really tough to recover from the bad Cyclo cross performance but he had faith the cyclist.
Stybar is now optimistic to continue his winning momentum for the later part of the season.
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