Kevin Pauwels used his cornering skills to get the decisive gap over Zdenek Stybar on the final offroad descent in the GvA Trofee in Ronse, Belgium. The two finished 20 seconds ahead of lone chaser Niels Albert. Pauwels leads the GvA standings with ten points over Stybar and 14 points over Sven Nys. The latter had a bad day and came home in seventh place.
Pauwels has been good all season and today was no exception. "I felt that I had good legs, really good," he said to Belgian TV after the race. He enjoyed his battle with Stybar at the front. "We worked very well together," he said. Pauwels did more work on the front in the offroad sections. "But he took the lead on the asphalt sections," Pauwels pointed out. It was touch and go until the finishing straight. "We were even," Pauwels admitted.
Stybar knew he had to shed Pauwels in the running section and in the final lap he tried it all. On the long running section he sprinted up, bike shouldered. He had a good gap that he defended on the following descent, leading to the next uphill run. But here, Pauwels sprinted back to Stybar, who had dismounted earlier on the climb.
Despite the loss, Stybar was happy with his performance. "It was 50 percent better than yesterday, where I had a bad day. But it was a good warmup for today." He battled hard for victory until the end. "I tried to get to the sprint, but I lost five meters in a couple of turns and then I was gone." He thinks the reason may be due to last week. "I took some bad turns in the Koppenbergcross," Stybar said. "Maybe that cost me some confidence. Today I tried it all and there was not more that I could do. I couldn't ride away from him [Pauwels]."
The two eyed each other with the approach to the finish. They did not have too much time, as Niels Albert had cut his deficit from 20 to eight seconds with one lap to go. The decisive point came on the final offroad section, when Pauwels led and took some tight turns faster than Stybar. Pauwels powered down onto the final asphalt section with a small gap that he defended in a fierce sprint.
Stybar is happy to be on the right track. "I still need some cross races, but I get better and better. Today was the first time this season that I could contest for the win." He also acknowledged that Pauwels is having a great season. "He did 70 percent of the work, especially on the uphill off-road sections. For the moment there is not much you can do against him, he is really strong."
Albert was the lone chaser and he was on the defensive from the beginning. "I had a bad start and some bad laps," he said to Sporza. He caught up in lap two and it got better from there. "I lost sometime with Sven and I thought we would ride together." His compatriot had an off-day, though. "I rode away from him."
Albert chased until the race ended, coming as close as eight seconds with one lap to go. But he never stood a chance against two top guys forcing the pace at the front. "I can be satisfied, I won yesterday and finished third today," he said.
Stybar and Pauwels dominate the day
Klaas Vantornout had a good start, and was followed by Tom Meeusen and Zdenek Stybar a few seconds behind. Stybar closed the gap and led the trio across the line, with Kevin Pauwels catching back on. A group including Sven Nys was four seconds back, while Niels Albert had a bad start and was further behind.
In the second lap Albert put in a stellar sprint to reach the front group, which was now about a dozen riders strong. Stybar sprinted to the points in the second lap, ahead of Nys and Pauwels.
Nys then took charge, but did not answer to a strong attack by Bart Aernouts. The Belgian took a 15-second lead against an eight-man group. On one of the climbs where riders usually dismount, Aernouts rode up, barely able to get his pedals around.
An acceleration by Stybar in lap four caused a split in the chase group, with only Tom Meeusen, Vantornout and Pauwels able to follow. They gobbled up Aernouts, with Nys and Albert following ten seconds later.
Stybar clocked the fastest lap with 5'19 (average speed 30.2 km/h) and received a prize of 1000 euro. Aernouts paid for his efforts and dropped back. Pauwels led the charge and he and Stybar put in a small gap on Meeusen and Vantornout. The front runners had a 14-second gap on the chase group, now united with Nys and Albert, Meeusen, Vantornout and Aernouts.
After five laps the gap was almost the same, at 15 seconds. Albert then accelerated away from the others, on a lone pursuit to the leaders. He was ten seconds back after six laps, but Stybar and Pauwels continued hard. A lap later the gap was 17 seconds and with three to go, it was 21 seconds. However, an intermediate acceleration brought Albert to within eight seconds with one lap to go. Stybar and Pauwels realized the danger and didn't play around, so Albert stood no chance in the end.
1. Kevin Pauwels in 1h01'12
2. Zdenek Stybar at 0.01
3. Niels Albert 0'20
4. Tom Meeusen 0'53
5. Klaas Vantornout 1'01
6. Bart Aernouts 1'11
7. Sven Nys 1'39
8. Marcel Meisen
9. Joeri Adams
10. Mariusz Gil
GVA Standings
1. Kevin Pauwels 54 points
2. Zdenek Stybar 44
3. Sven Nys 40