World Champion Zdenek Stybar on Sven Nys: "He raced with wings."

Czech star training hard in Mallorca in preparation for next batch of racing

World Champion Zdenek Stybar suffered his first major race loss of the 2010/2011 season on Monday in Oudenaarde. The Czech champion has been nothing less than stellar from his first race all the way till Monday, but on Monday, the Telenet-Fidea rider met his match – Sven Nys.

Nys, who had previously struggled throughout the early goings on the season, but continually promised to come good in the coming weeks, got everything just right and connected for a dominant victory. He was over two minutes clear of the World Champion, who finished in fourth place.

The win was Nys’s eighth at the legendary Koppenbergcross and a signal that the 34 year old could well be returning to the form of old that earned him his nickname, the Cannibal.

Stybar, meanwhile, is not too worried. The 24 year old is currently in Mallorca training for the next batch of racing that awaits. Looking back at his pedestrian performance on Monday – well, pedestrian at least by his standards – Stybar is frank in his assessment.

“My off day was a combination of three factors,” said Stybar in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws. “I had a lot of obligations and not enough recovery in time for the Koppenbergcross, and I made it even worse with a lot of errors.”

A slightly-tired Stybar would seem a fair possibility, especially considering his victory the previous day in the Superprestige round in Zonhoven. For Stybar though, the main obstacle to success was none other than the resurgent and Koppenbergcross-loving Sven Nys.

“The third, and probably biggest factor: Sven Nys was above all, very impressive. He raced with wings.”

With a weekend coming up without any racing, Stybar has taken the chance to head down to Mallorca to retune his engine and put in some hard work in preparation for the arduous schedule to come.

“Here in Mallorca, I’m combining a lot of training with a lot of nothing. I’ll stay here until Wednesday, and then next week, I hope to reap the rewards of my hard work here.”