Pauwels takes the win in a sprint against Stybar at the GvA Troffee race in Hasselt. ©Bart Hazen
HASSELT, BELGIUM – Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) claimed his second straight GvA Hasselt win Saturday after an exciting finish-line duel with last year’s runner-up Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step).
The series leader joined three other riders off the front, including world champion Stybar (who beat Pauwels at the line at this race in 2009), Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) and Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea). With advantages slipping indecisively back and forth between the four leaders in the closing laps, the bunch approached the finish together. Stybar jumped first, but Pauwels immediately countered, gaining the small gap over Stybar he would hold to the line with a last second bike throw. Nys crossed the line for third, duplicating last year’s podium. Meeusen was fourth.
Pauwels, who has won the first three races of the Gazet van Antwerpen Trofee series, now holds a 12 point lead over Stybar with five races remaining. Nys is third, 20 points off Pauwels’ lead, while Meeusen sits fourth and fellow Belgian Bart Aernouts is fifth. The series continues Dec. 17 with the GP Rouwmoer, where Nys won last year after Niels Albert flatted while leading the last lap.
In the U23 race, Lars van der Haar continued his dominance of the series, and Micki van Empel won the sprint for second from Wietse Bosmans.
Results follow galleries.
Bart Hazen’s Photo Gallery
U23 Men
2011 GvA Hasselt Results
| Place | Name (Team) | Country | GvA Points Earned |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb - Revor) | BEL | 35.00 |
| 2 | Zdenek Stybar (Quickstep Cycling Team) | CZE | 32.00 |
| 3 | Sven Nys (Quickstep Cycling Team) | BEL | 29.00 |
| 4 | Tom Meeusen (Telenet Fidea Cycling Team) | BEL | 27.00 |
| 5 | Dieter Vanthourenhout (Landbouwkrediet) | BEL | 26.00 |
| 6 | Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb - Revor) | BEL | 25.00 |
| 7 | Bart Aernouts (Telenet Fidea Cycling Team) | BEL | 24.00 |
| 8 | Mariusz Gil (Baboco - Revor Cycling Team) | POL | 23.00 |
| 9 | Bart Wellens (Bkcp - Powerplus) | BEL | 22.00 |
| 10 | Vincent Baestaens (Landbouwkrediet) | BEL | 21.00 |
| 11 | Sven Vanthourenhout (Sunweb - Revor) | BEL | 20.00 |
| 12 | Jan Denuwelaere (Style & Concept Cycling Team) | BEL | 19.00 |
| 13 | Joeri Adams (Rabo - Giant Offroad Team) | BEL | 18.00 |
| 14 | Rob Peeters (AA Cycling Team) | BEL | 17.00 |
| 15 | Gerben De Knegt (Rabo - Giant Offroad Team) | NED | 16.00 |
| 16 | Thijs Van Amerongen (AA Drink/ Leontien.nl Pro) | NED | 15.00 |
| 17 | Mitchell Huenders (Telenet Fidea Cycling Team) | NED | 14.00 |
| 18 | Kenneth Van Compernolle (Style & Concept Cycling Team) | BEL | 13.00 |
| 19 | Sascha Weber (Landbouwkrediet) | GER | 12.00 |
| 20 | Jim Aernouts (Sunweb - Revor) | BEL | 11.00 |
| 21 | Twan Van Den Brand (Landbouwkrediet) | NED | 10.00 |
| 22 | Tom Van Den Bosch (AA Drink/ Leontien.nl Pro) | BEL | 9.00 |
| 23 | Thijs Al (Style & Concept Cycling Team) | NED | 8.00 |
| 24 | Jelle Brackman | BEL | 7.00 |
| 25 | Stijn Huys (Telenet Fidea Cycling Team) | BEL | 6.00 |
| 26 | Javier Ruiz De Larrinaga Ibanez | SPA | 5.00 |
| 27 | Patrick Gaudy (Telenet Fidea Cycling Team) | BEL | 4.00 |
| 28 | Dave De Cleyn | BEL | 3.00 |
| 29 | Patrick Van Leeuwen (Rabo - Giant Offroad Team) | NED | 2.00 |
| 30 | Kevin Cant | BEL | 1.00 |
| 31 | Jo Pirotte (AA Cycling Team) | BEL | 0.00 |
| 32 | Jimmy Tielens (Style & Concept Cycling Team) | BEL | 0.00 |
| 33 | Eddy Van Yzendoorn (Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam) | NED | 0.00 |
| 34 | Isaac Suarez Fernandez | SPA | 0.00 |
| 35 | Paul Oldham (Style & Concept Cycling Team) | GBR | 0.00 |
| 36 | Robert Gavenda | SVK | 0.00 |
| 37 | Dries Pauwels (Team Differdange) | BEL | 0.00 |
| 38 | Dmitriy Sorokin | LAT | 0.00 |
| 39 | Sigvard Kukk (Sunweb - Revor) | LAT | 0.00 |
| 40 | David Andrew Quist | USA | 0.00 |
| 41 | Martin Zlamalik (WV Schijndel) | CZE | 0.00 |
| 42 | Radomír Simunek Jr. (Bkcp - Powerplus) | CZE | 0.00 |
| 43 | Marco Bianco (AA Cycling Team) | ITA | 0.00 |
2011 GvA Standings 11-19-11
| Place | Name | GvA Points | Victories | Podiums | Race#1 | Race#2 | Race#3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Pauwels (BEL) | 85 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Zdenek Stybar (CZE) | 73 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Sven Nys (BEL) | 65 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 3 |
| 4 | Tom Meeusen (BEL) | 60 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | Bart Aernouts (BEL) | 56 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
| 6 | Klaas Vantornout (BEL) | 56 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | Joeri Adams (BEL) | 41 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 9 | 13 |
| 8 | Mariusz Gil (POL) | 40 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 10 | 8 |
| 9 | Dieter Vanthourenhout (BEL) | 35 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 5 | |
| 10 | Niels Albert (BEL) | 33 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | |
| 11 | Vincent Baestaens (BEL) | 33 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 10 | |
| 12 | Thijs Van Amerongen (NED) | 33 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 11 | 16 |
| 13 | Bart Wellens (BEL) | 32 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 9 | |
| 14 | Gerben De Knegt (NED) | 29 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 13 | 15 |
| 15 | Sven Vanthourenhout (BEL) | 29 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 11 | |
| 16 | Jan Denuwelaere (BEL) | 28 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 15 | 12 |
| 17 | Rob Peeters (BEL) | 24 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 21 | 14 |
| 18 | Thijs Al (NED) | 22 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 16 | 23 |
| 19 | Kenneth Van Compernolle (BEL) | 22 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 18 | 18 |
| 20 | Robert Gavenda (SVK) | 14 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 14 | 36 |
| 21 | Mitchell Huenders (NED) | 14 | 0 | 0 | 17 | ||
| 22 | Tom Van Den Bosch (BEL) | 14 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 20 | 22 |
| 23 | Marcel Meisen (GER) | 13 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 8 | |
| 24 | Radomír Simunek Jr. (CZE) | 13 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 42 | |
| 25 | Sascha Weber (GER) | 12 | 0 | 0 | 19 | ||
| 26 | Jim Aernouts (BEL) | 11 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 20 | |
| 27 | Cedric Gaudy (BEL) | 10 | 0 | 0 | 21 | ||
| 28 | Twan Van Den Brand (NED) | 10 | 0 | 0 | 21 | ||
| 29 | Patrick Gaudy (BEL) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 27 | |
| 30 | Stijn Huys (BEL) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 22 | 25 |
| 31 | Jiri Polnicky (CZE) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 23 | ||
| 32 | Jelle Brackman (BEL) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 24 | ||
| 33 | Kevin Cant (BEL) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 28 | 30 |
| 34 | Javier Ruiz De Larrinaga Ibanez (SPA) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 26 | ||
| 35 | Eddy Van Yzendoorn (NED) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 30 | 33 |
| 36 | Dave De Cleyn (BEL) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 28 | ||
| 37 | Gianni Denolf (BEL) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 28 | ||
| 38 | Jonathan Page (USA) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 19 | |
| 39 | Patrick Van Leeuwen (NED) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 29 | ||
| 40 | Simon Zahner (SWI) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 19 | ||
| 41 | Marco Bianco (ITA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 43 | |
| 42 | Thomas Vernaeckt (BEL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
