Sven Nys quickly put his bad last weekend behind and won the cyclocross race in Loenhout. He left Niels Albert and Zdenek Stybar behind with an attack in the last lap.
Nys was quite happy with his turnaround, after heavily falling on Saturday and breaking his chain on Sunday. "It is really important to see that the power is back," he said to Sporza. "This wasn't the case in Diegem, because of my fall in Zolder."
Nys thanked the medical staff for his better performance. "I could profit today from their work yesterday. I felt much more self-confident."
Nys did actually go down once. "But that really didn't bother me. I consequently rode after the lead. The last lap was a power explosion." With a strong acceleration he rode away from Albert and Stybar. "I knew that in the technical areas I had to ride on the front and saw that Albert lost contact."
Albert lost some of his lead in the Gazet van Antwerp standings but is still five points ahead of Nys. He raced pretty well, "but I made a small mistake in one of the climbs and it was all over."
Nys and Albert tangled on the second lap. "I came off my track," Albert said to Sporza. He got his handlebar stuck and "Nys rode right into me."
Beer and fingers
Albert also showed a not so flattering finger to Gerben de Knegt after the intermediate sprint. "That was pure frustration. I am in the hunt for it against Stybar and then De Knegt came in the last 20m and took the points. I don't get that."
The low temperatures didn't bother Albert. "I had more problems with the beer people threw at me than with the cold."
This was different to third-place Stybar. "In the last two laps I became really cold, but of course that's normal this time of the year. In the last lap I made a mistake and the other two were gone. Unlike Albert, I did not receive any beer showers, but it still was a great atmosphere."
Meeusen again
In the U23 it was Tom Meeusen once again, who prevailed. He beat Tijmen Eising. Meeusen was quite happy with his streak. "The nice thing is that I won three times out of three in front of my home crowd." Eising was not sad, either. "I was unable to follow Meeusen," he said.
Meeusen leads the GvA trophy with 109 points ahead of Jim Aernouts (88) and Jan Denuwelaere (83).
The junior race was won by David Van der Poel, the beginners race by Mathieu van der Poel.
Van den Brand strongest woman
In the women's race, Daphny van den Brand was the strongest rider. She beat Marianne Vos, Sanne van Paassen and Sanne Cant decisively. Pavla Havlikova still leads the overall with 61 points, ahead of Helen Wyman (57) and Van Den Brand (50).
Van den Brand said things went well today. "Better than the last few days. I made some mistakes today, so Marianne was able to come close a few times. After my forfeit in Oudenaarde I didn't think about it, but now it seems even the final victory is possible."
Van den Brand trails by 11 points. "If I can keep this level I am also hopeful for the Worlds. I should be better than a year ago."
Results men
1. Sven Nys
2. Niels Albert
3. Zdenek Stybar
4. Gerben de Knegt
5. Rob Peeters
6. Dieter Vanthourenhout
7. Bart Wellens
8. Enrico Franzoi
9. Bart Aernouts
10. Christian Heule
GvA standings after five from eight rounds
1. Niels Albert 121 points
2. Sven Nys 116
3. Zdenek Stybar 108
4. Kevin Pauwels 76
5. Bart Aernouts 73