Philippe Gilbert has won the Ronde van Vlaanderen. The Belgian champion and teammate of Zdenek came in after a long solo. “I had some bad luck again, but it still was an amazing day and I did enjoy it very much.”
“So the most beautiful race of the year is over”, Styby said after the finish. “It was an amazing day already before the start on stage in Antwerp where all the people welcome Tom Boonen by clapping their hands. It was crazy.”
“All the crowd next to the roads was so impressive. It was an enjoyable day with of course also a lot of stress. My day started good, but before the first time Oude Kwaremont I had to change my wheel for the first time.”
“I didn’t make it directly to the front and I had to stop a few more times. And on the Kortekeer someone rode against my frontwheel and on the Eikenberg a bottle touched my rearwheel and my bike didn’t work. So I had to change my bike.”
“I came back and on the Muur van Geraardsbergen the first 14 riders made a gap. I was in 17th position so I just missed the group. But it wasn’t a disaster, because we had three riders in front at that time.”
“Before the Kanarieberg I was involved in a crash and the group where I was in splitted. So I had to chase again... Let’s say the bad luck continues to follow me. But ok, that’s sport.”
“The important thing is that we have won with Phil and Niki Terpstra took 3th place. It is amazing what our team achieved today and I’m really happy I can be on board. For sure it was a day I won’t forget soon.”