A few days after the E3 Prijs Styby started in the next classic: Gent-Wevelgem. The race was shortened by snowfall by 47 kilometers and was launched on the coast in Gistel. It was a hard race, with a role again for our Czech Champion.
“It was war already from kilometer 0”, Styby said after the race. “We did 55 kilometers in the first hour of the race. We were fighting to keep off a second group, but they came back on us. It was all day very nervous, searching positions and staying in front.”
Another group came back just before the first passage on the Kemmelberg. “The race could start again. It went all very fast and the peloton broke again. For a moment, I didn’t know in which group I was anymore. After a while I knew I was in the second group and I missed the first one.”
“I thought I’d never see the head of the race again, but later the Kemmelberg came for a second time. I made the jump from the second to the first group. When I got back in the front, a group of 13 riders rode away. I saw only one option and that was to ride for Mark Cavendish.”
Styby tried to close the gap. “But it didn’t work out. We never saw that 13 guys again. It was a hard race again and I’m happy about my shape”, Zdenek decided. Normally Thursday or Friday the Omega Pharma-Quick Step Team will announce the selection for the Ronde van Vlaanderen.