Bart Wellens took his first cross victory this season, just as everything is about to wrap up. Wellens won the GP De Eecloonaar solo, ahead of Dieter Vanthourenhout. The top favorites Sven Nys, Niels Albert and Zdenek Stybar finished third through fifth, resting a bit before tomorrow's big Superprestige final.
Wellens was out for several months at the beginning of the season with a virus and was quite pleased to be back on top. "You can say that loud," he told Sporza after the race. "This is a season to quickly forget. I would have rather won Sunday in front of my home crowd, but this one they can't take away from me anymore," Wellens said.
Wellens was there from the beginning. "Right from the start, which fortunately I didn't mess up, the pace was really high. I tried to go early, but Nys, Albert and Co caught on." The group contained also Stybar and Dieter Vanthourenhout. The ground was quite hard from the temperatures and the old snow turned to ice made the parcours treacherous.
In the middle of the race, Wellens put in another attack. "Halfway through, I tried again. The others watched each other and I took advantage from that."
Wellens knew that some may not have been racing full gas. "Maybe some rode with their hand brake on a bit, with regards to Sunday. But I didn't win ahead of Janneke and Mieke. Just look at the results!"
Results
1. Bart Wellens in 1h00'20"
2. Dieter Vanthourenhout at 17"
3. Sven Nys - 20"
4. Niels Albert - 42"
5. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) - 43"
6. Kevin Pauwels - 51"
7. Klaas Vantornout - 1'06"
8. Bart Aernouts - 1'09"
9. Mariusz Gil (Pol) - 1'11"
10. Kenneth Van Compernolle - 1'13"