Wout Van Aert (Crelan-Vastgoedservice) won the GP Sven Nys on New Year’s Day with a classic Sven Nys-like raid. Van Aert won with a bonus of more than a minute on runner-up Sven Nys (Crelan-AA Drink), who waved goodbye to his home race in style. Van Aert also sealed the time-based classification of the Bpost Bank Trophy with his performance on Friday afternoon as second placed Kevin Pauwels (Marlux-Napoleon Games) only managed a tenth place at 2:09 in Baal.
An emotional Van Aert was pleased he was able to get the win and the overall victory in Baal. “It’s great stuff. Especially the classification is nice because after the World championships I no longer have to worry about it. That’s the second year in a row I’m in this position,” Van Aert told Sporza.
Overnight rain turned the demanding course around the local hill, the Balenberg, into a sticky clay mud-fest. After the opening lap there were no major gaps in front, as riders realized that it was dangerous to go into the red zone on a course like this. European champion Lars van der Haar (Giant-Alpecin) was present in front with Belgian champion Klaas Vantornout (Marlux-Napoleon Games) and teammate Gianni Meersman. Kevin Pauwels took a bad start and never featured back into the lead group. On a fast slippery descent with a right-hand turn, Toon Aerts (Telenet-Fidea) narrowly avoided a hard crash despite colliding with the barriers a couple of times.
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In front Van der Haar kept riding at a fast pace and only Wout Van Aert was able to close the gap on the Dutch rider. Nys lost a bit of ground late in the opening lap due to a mishap on a short off-camber climb and missed the right move.
At the intermediate sprint Van der Haar picked up the 15 bonus seconds ahead Van Aert and Gianni Meersman, who led his teammates Vantornout and Michael Vanthourenhout at 12 seconds from the two leaders. Nys was a little further back in a group with Aerts and Corné van Kessel (Telenet-Fidea) and fast starter Laurens Sweeck (ERA Real Estate-Murprotec).
When Nys crashed during the third lap on the same tricky descent where Aerts nearly crashed during the opening lap, it seemed like he was out of contention for the podium. Nys’ ripped shorts on his right flank showed the signs of the crash and he needed a lap to recover.
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