Kevin Pauwels was delighted with his win in the GP Hasselt which is part of the BPost Bank Trofee series after he managed to beat Wout van Aert in an exciting duel. "I felt good today," he told Het Nieuwsblad after the race.

It didn't come as a big surprise for Kevin Pauwels that Wout van Aert was the only rider who could follow the Sunweb rider. "I think that Wout and I are currently a step above the rest. I was in front with the right man," Pauwels said. He only managed to drop van Aert in the final lap. "In the sand, I went full gas and in the next sections, I could extend my lead. Currently, I'm just very strong."

In the rankings, Pauwels took a good step forward and is now in second, just 1.07 behind leader Sven Nys. "I did not expect that I could gain so much time. Maybe something is still possible but that remains to be seen. Sven is still far ahead but it may be possible. I won't look too far ahead though. Today I had a very good day. I can still have a bad day and Sven is very good so it can turn around quickly," said the Belgian who performs remarkably better than last year. Pauwels has a simple explanation: "Last year, I may not have trained intensively enough in the beginning."