Czech champion Zdenek Stybar (Telenet-Fidea) wins the World Cup round in Roubaix and overtakes the lead in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup from World Champion Niels Albert Stybar threw his fists in the air on the famed Paris-Roubaix vélodrome and won ahead of Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor), Sven Nys, Erwin Vervecken and Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea). Albert, finishing on a disappointing eighth place, now trails Stybar by 16 points in the World Cup standings with only one round left in the series.
"This is unbelievable. Of course, I'm happy but I didn't expect it," Stybar said. "I've only just returned from a training week in Majorca, and I was feeling tired. The first few laps were reasonable, but then I was doing worse, and I lost positions."
"At one moment, I was able to move back up, and suddenly I was in the lead," Stybar said, recalling his acceleration during the sixth of nine laps. "It was ideal because I ended up leading the race together with my teammate [Bart] Wellens who was very motivated because he was still fighting for a spot in the Belgian selection for the World Championships."
Picture : Belga