Francis Mourey broke up this year's cross oligopoly by winning the GP De Ster in Sint Niklaas, Belgium, today. Mourey beat Radomir Simunek and Dieter Vanthourenhout in a come-from-behind race. Main contenders like Sven Nys and Niels Albert skipped the race, after having battled for the GvA trophy yesterday.
Mourey had to deal with strong team tactics by BKCP-Powerplus. "I was a bit in the stranglehold of BKCP riders [Simunek, Vanthourenhout and Franzoi -ed.], but I managed to overcome this in a nice way," he told Sporza after the race.
Mourey crossed the line with both hands raised and prominently showing his tricolore jersey of French champion. The Frenchman admitted the result was partially thanks to the absence of the superstars. "Obviously it was a different cross through the absence of Sven Nys and Niels Albert, but we also pulled through well. I fell three times but I was lucky to still win the race."
Mourey had a strong start and was joined by Gerben de Knegt, Jonathan Page and Dieter Vanthourenhout. Franzoi and Petr Dlask were able to catch up later. A little after the halfway mark, Mourey fell off the front group, but was able to catch up later.
Simunek replaced Page in the front and the Czech tried to go solo in the last lap. That didn't work and in a long sprint Mourey was the strongest.
Results
1. Francis Mourey
2. Radomir Simunek
3. Dieter Vanthourenhout
4. Enrico Franzoi
5. Petr Dlask