Yeah Styby really impressed me on this race. I really wouldn't have predicted he could do so well in his debut race this season.
Thanks for the kind words, L'arriviste. I appreciate.
Here are all performances made by the 6 crossers who were part of these Four Days of Dunkirk:
Final General Classification
3 Zdenek Stybar
16 Sven Vanthourenhout
18 Mathieu Boulo
47 Sven Nys
65 Arnaud Labbe
89 Nicolas Bazin
Highlights of Stage 4 to Mont Cassel
Sven Nys was in the early morning break but when the live coverage started they were only with the 3 of them in front: Nys, Kevin De Weert and Joost Van Leijen. They entered the final circuit ahead. Behind there was a group of 16, with among them Zdenek Stybar and Mathieu Boulo. Boulo was pulling on for his leaders of Roubaix-LM such as Steven Tronet. Sometimes he even attacked and the group was reduced to 10 riders. Stybar was very vigilant in front and countered his attacks, protecting team mate De Weert's escape.
Boulo reduced the gap with the lead group down to roughly 30 seconds, enabling team mate Kneisky to bridge the gap alone. Then Nys' team mate and ex crosser Davy Commeyne did the same and later on Johan Mombaerts. Shortly after Commeyne joined the group, Nys dropped out.
In the last lap Voeckler attacked in the Southern side of Cassel. Stybar was chasing him with a rider that I couldn't identify. Voeckler caught a chasing group with Paolini that just attacked before. Stybar and the other rider caught the group as well. A handful of rider got back from behind too (such as Fedrigo). In front, Mombaerts attacked and the Stybar group caught the rest of the lead group. Voeckler attacked once again but you could see what he was up too from a mile off and Styby could respond quite easily. He then took the lead of the group and Voeckler attacked behind his back. He didn't react and it was over.
Thierry Adam said Stybar was his first professional road race. Is that true? He definitely was under contract when he raced for Fidea and did road races. But maybe they were 'open'?
What is weird too is that he andd Vasseur know Styby is cyclocross World champion but when they saw their countryman Boulo pull on, they never said he was also a very good crosser.
Additional information :
Sven Vanthourenhout 8th in Stage 2, 10th in Stage 3, 15th in Stage 4, 18th in Stage 5, 12th in the Point classification
Sven Nys winner of Sprint 1 and 2nd on the two first ascents of the Mont Cassel (two sides of it) in stage 4, 7th in the Mountain classification
Zdenek Stybar 3rd in Stage 4 on Mont Cassel, 11th in the Point classification
Nicolas Bazin 20th in Stage 2, in the early break in stage 5 after 15km (6 riders than 4 after Fouchard’s crash), Marycz attacked with 4km to go, Nico tried to chase him with Engoulvent while Vermote was caught. They were all caught with 2km to go (they did roughly 157km in front !).Nico also won Sprint 3 in Dunkirk and was 1st on top of the Mont des Cats/Catsberg in that very stage
(putting him in the 12th place in the Mountain classification).
Mathieu Boulo 11th in Stage 4, 7th in the Young Rider Classification
Thanks for the kind words, L'arriviste. I appreciate.
Here are all performances made by the 6 crossers who were part of these Four Days of Dunkirk:
Final General Classification
3 Zdenek Stybar
16 Sven Vanthourenhout
18 Mathieu Boulo
47 Sven Nys
65 Arnaud Labbe
89 Nicolas Bazin
Highlights of Stage 4 to Mont Cassel
Sven Nys was in the early morning break but when the live coverage started they were only with the 3 of them in front: Nys, Kevin De Weert and Joost Van Leijen. They entered the final circuit ahead. Behind there was a group of 16, with among them Zdenek Stybar and Mathieu Boulo. Boulo was pulling on for his leaders of Roubaix-LM such as Steven Tronet. Sometimes he even attacked and the group was reduced to 10 riders. Stybar was very vigilant in front and countered his attacks, protecting team mate De Weert's escape.
Boulo reduced the gap with the lead group down to roughly 30 seconds, enabling team mate Kneisky to bridge the gap alone. Then Nys' team mate and ex crosser Davy Commeyne did the same and later on Johan Mombaerts. Shortly after Commeyne joined the group, Nys dropped out.
In the last lap Voeckler attacked in the Southern side of Cassel. Stybar was chasing him with a rider that I couldn't identify. Voeckler caught a chasing group with Paolini that just attacked before. Stybar and the other rider caught the group as well. A handful of rider got back from behind too (such as Fedrigo). In front, Mombaerts attacked and the Stybar group caught the rest of the lead group. Voeckler attacked once again but you could see what he was up too from a mile off and Styby could respond quite easily. He then took the lead of the group and Voeckler attacked behind his back. He didn't react and it was over.
Thierry Adam said Stybar was his first professional road race. Is that true? He definitely was under contract when he raced for Fidea and did road races. But maybe they were 'open'?
What is weird too is that he andd Vasseur know Styby is cyclocross World champion but when they saw their countryman Boulo pull on, they never said he was also a very good crosser.
Additional information :
Sven Vanthourenhout 8th in Stage 2, 10th in Stage 3, 15th in Stage 4, 18th in Stage 5, 12th in the Point classification
Sven Nys winner of Sprint 1 and 2nd on the two first ascents of the Mont Cassel (two sides of it) in stage 4, 7th in the Mountain classification
Zdenek Stybar 3rd in Stage 4 on Mont Cassel, 11th in the Point classification
Nicolas Bazin 20th in Stage 2, in the early break in stage 5 after 15km (6 riders than 4 after Fouchard’s crash), Marycz attacked with 4km to go, Nico tried to chase him with Engoulvent while Vermote was caught. They were all caught with 2km to go (they did roughly 157km in front !).Nico also won Sprint 3 in Dunkirk and was 1st on top of the Mont des Cats/Catsberg in that very stage
Mathieu Boulo 11th in Stage 4, 7th in the Young Rider Classification

