For the fourth time in his career, Sven Nys was unable to win his own race, the GP Sven Nys, but the Cannibal was satisfied with the fifth place after he had been in podium contention for the first time in a while. 

"It was not bad, it was already better than in Loenhout [the Azencross which was held two days ago]," he told Het Nieuwsbla.d "I am improving but I can not force anything. At one point I hit the front but then I saw that Wout (van Aert, ed.) was just playing, he had a lot more to give. I tried to accelerate a few time but just at that point, he attacked and I just had go at my own pace. For a long time, I was in the battle for the third place but it was all over when I punctured just after the pit in the final lap.

"What does this indicate for the Belgian Championships? I'm good enough for the podium but that is the maximum. There is one rider who is above the rest, and everybody who denies that, is either blind or knows nothing about cyclo-cross. Wout is currently two minutes faster than everybody else. But you should never give up. You have to fight aganst him and try to do the best but there is little to do.

"The reality is that I do my best. I feel that I get better day after day, but it is still far from what it usually has been at this race. In the past, I could stand in the pedals for a long time, now I have to sit down much earlier. I will try to find the good pedalstroke again. I see that I make progress but I can not force anything. I will do my best.

"What the public meant to me today? There were fantastic, there were the reason I tried to attack a few times. I know that the people go to the race because of me. I want to please the audience but I cannot transform my legs to the best I had in recent years. I just need to fight, and today I did it pretty well. I was fifth today and that's pretty good."