Following on from his victory yesterday at Hasselt, Sven Nys showed he’s back to his best again today as he won the fiftieth World Cup victory of his long career at Koksijde.
World Champion Mathieu van der Poel (BKCP-Corendon) was back racing today after a knee injury kept him out of action and he went clear early on, with only Wout Van Aert (Vastgoedservice-Golden Palace) able to stay with him.
However, van der Poel faded with Nys joining van Aert instead. The duo pulled clear of the rest of the field. Despite their best efforts, neither van Aert nor Nys were able to shake off the other. It was on the long muddy section before the final corner where Nys was finally able to gain a couple of metres and get away from van Aert.
In front of a large crowd, Nys let out a big scream of joy as crossed the line. It was his first World Cup victory in three years. Van Aert was second with van der Poel winning the battle for third place over Lars van der Haar (Team Giant-Alpecin). Van Aert remains leader of the World Cup classification.
Below are the highlights from the race:
