ZONHOVEN, Belgium (VN) — Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) won a phenomenal battle with world champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) on Sunday in the sand pits of Zonhoven.
The two men were alone for the last two laps of the Superprestige stop, clearly the strongest of the bunch, neither able to shake the other on what proved to be a very fast course after a chilly rain. The deep sand put paid to many a man’s race on Sunday, among them Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) and Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea), both of whom crashed spectacularly on the deep drop into the pit.
Going into the bell lap Nys let Albert take the front, then attacked him going into a narrow, technical sandy section as Bart Aernouts (AA Drink) closed in on the leaders.
The Albert repaid him by countering into a tough U-turn full of deep sand, briefly setting the Belgian champ afoot, and from there the two battled hammer and tongs, banging bars, running and riding, through a final narrow sandy strip where there was only one rideable line.
Albert emerged with the advantage, but Nys clung grimly to his wheel, then launched one last powerful attack that saw him shoot past the rainbow jersey on the last few meters of dirt to lead onto the finishing straight and take the win.
Albert hung on for second with Aernouts third.
Editor’s note: Stay tuned for a full report and photos from Zonhoven.
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