It is the end, my friends. The final cross race of the season. It's ok though, because next week, road season begins for real. But that is next week. Before the cobbles, we play in sand one more time.
Sven Nys in the sand at Middelkerke cross. Photo taken by Balint Hamvas, cyclephotos.co.uk, used with permission.
Oostmalle is a sand race, which is always fun. Also, it rained a lot this past week, and this morning my flat got bombarded in a hail storm.
As to who can still win the GVA series, there are two contenders: Kevin Pauwels and Zdenek Stybar. Pauwels already won the world cup this season, Stybar doesn't have a big title nor a series to his name. Zdenek also didn't kill himself in the tough-as-nails Caubergcross yesterday, so his legs should be a bit fresher.
1. Kevin Pauwels 154 punten
2. Zdenek Stybar (Tsj) 142
3. Sven Nys 124
4. Niels Albert 114
5. Tom Meeusen 98
6. Bart Wellens 85
7. Bart Aernouts 72
8. Sven Vanthourenhout 71
9. Klaas Vantornout 70
Stybar is twelve points behind Pauwels. That's a sizeable gap, but Kevin shouldn't feel too confident just yet. Points at the finish will be allocated as such: 25-22-19-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2 and 1 point. At the end of the second lap, there's a sprintermediate for 3-2-1 points. If there is a tie, than today's race results will decide who wins (so, Stybar will take it then, as he is the one who has to make up points).
Start time: 15h CET
Livestream links: http://sports-livez.com/