The last stage of the Tour de Picardie was won by Jimmy Casper. Our favorite played an active role in the stage by riding more than 160km in the break. At the end of the day, Styby would finish the final stage in 75th.
“It was a really hard stage for me,” our Czech commented. “After a good 20km I went on the attack with a group that included Edvald Boasson Hagen, Juan Antonio Flecha, Andreas Klier and Filippo Pozzato. But the guys from Landbouwkrediet never let us get too far ahead.”
As the peloton closed in on the lead group, Zdenek gave it another go. “I ended up in front with four other riders. With the headwind it was anything but easy. I gained points in the mountains classification and bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint, but that was it.”
With 20km to go the peloton caught the leaders and the stage ended in a sprint finish. “It was probably my longest breakaway ever. I rode about 160km of the 195km stage in front. Very good training.”
The overall victory went to Romain Feillu. The Frenchman's 3rd place finish on the day was enough to take the leader's jersey from Lithuanian Egidijus Juodvalkis. Styby ended the race in 38th.