We’re going to have to wait until the New Year for Styby’s next big victory. The world champion, who wasn’t sufficiently recovered from Loenhoud, just missed out on raising his arms in victory during today’s race in Bredene. The win went to Jan Denuwelaere.
Styby, Denuwelaere and Dieter Vanthourenhout were the strongest riders on the day. However, Vanthourenhout lost contact with the leaders just before the finale and the remaining duo would battle for the win. “In the penultimate lap I was able to drop Jan, but he came back after I made a mistake in the sand.”
The two then went into the last lap together. “He actually played quite dirty. We almost crashed three times which I’m not happy about because this cross that doesn’t count toward any classification. I was frustrated and a little upset with his actions.”
Would Zdenek be able to take revenge in the sprint? “I tried, but I made the mistake of beginning the sprint too early. There was a headwind and didn’t make it any easier. But anyway, we’ll just try again on New Year’s Day in Baal.”
Our Czech will skip tomorrow’s race in Leuven to get some rest. “That’s what you think. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. The camper has to go in to get a new paint job and I have to ride my new Specialized bikes. I’m also getting new clothes, glasses, helmets and hopefully new legs too!”