With a second and fourth place Omega Pharma-Quick Step just missed the top prize in the E3 Harelbeke. The victory went to the Slovak Peter Sagan. Styby had a lot of trouble and finished on a nineteenth place.
“The bad luck started after 50 kilometers. I had problems with my derailleur and so I had to switch my bike. I went from a SL4 to a Venge, another model. I wanted to get back to the SL4, but he was not ready when we approached the final. I chose my Roubaix bike.”
On La Houppe, one of the many climbs trough the Flemish Ardennes, there was a massive crash. “The peloton broke into several pieces. I was at that time in the back, because I just switched my bike. A very bad moment I guess.”
“It took a long time before I was in the front again. On the Eikenberg I was there again. However, we never had a moment of rest. The pace was very high all the time. There was no time to recover from the effort. The following hill was there soon and again there was a crash.”
Zdenek was in 20th position and was held up. “It happened just before the Paterberg, a crucial point. Again a very bad time. I returned after a major new effort, followed Fabian Cancellara went he attacked on the Oude Kwaremont, but the race was already ridden.”
“A group of four attacked among the crashes and fought for the victory. With Niki Terpstra and Stijn Vandenbergh we had two riders there. By the way, in the final, I had also a flat tire, just before the Varent. I switched back over to my SL4.”
Our favorite closed the gap with the group with Cancellara and Tom Boonen again, but didn’t sprint for a place in the top ten. “I was in a bad position. That was basically because I was not focused anymore. I expected much more from this race.”
“Congratulations to Peter Sagan, who had driven a strong race. Unbelievable that he could handle two guys from our team. My next race is on Sunday with Gent-Wevelgem. I hope I recover very fast!”