Zdenek Stybar put out a tremendous effort to catch Kevin Pauwels (Telenet-Fidea) after he tried to escape, bridging after an 8 second gap opened up early on at GVA Trofee Oostmalle. Stybar and Pauwels quickly rode away from the field with 7 laps to go, but it was Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus), who caught the duo, that eventually escaped with less than three laps to go for a solo victory on Sunday. Stybar took 2nd place, 15 seconds back from Albert.
"I did my best today," Stybar said. "In the first part of the race I felt really good so I tried to chase Pauwels thinking about the race and, why not, the overall of the GVA Trophee. Maybe I moved too early but it's a part of my way of racing. I'm always looking for the best for me and the team. Now I will take a period of rest and then I will focus on the road season. My first race will be probably in May but I don't know exactly where I will make my debut on road racing. It was a long season and now I want only to think about relaxing and recovering."