After taking the E3 Prijs Harelbeke on Friday, Tom Boonen made it two in a row in two different ways on Sunday. The Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider took his second win in three days as he sprinted to victory in Gent-Wevelgem, also his second win in as many years in the Belgian Classic. The win marked Boonen’s third career Gent-Wevelgem title, after also winning in 2004.
Boonen held off Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Matti Breschel (Rabobank) on the line, as the Slovak and the Dane finished second and third respectively. It was a chaotic sprint that mirrored the occasional chaos of the race, as crosswinds ripped up the peloton and spread groups all over the road.
In the sprint between the lead group of about thirty, Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) collided with Matteo Tossato (Saxo Bank), which held up several riders. Matt Goss (GreenEdge) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) expressed their displeasure at this, as well as at the sprinting of Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM), with Boasson Hagen even taking a swing at Marcato as the sprint kicked up.
But after masterfully guiding his team through the final kilometers – Omega Pharma-Quick Step used several riders in the final twenty kilometers to ensure that a second group containing Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling) stayed behind – Boonen rewarded the work of his red-hot team.
He emerged from the bunch sprint with perfect timing and produced a turn of speed that distanced Oscar Freire (Katusha) and wouldn’t allow Sagan or Breschel around. Freire was fourth and the uncharacteristically animated Boasson Hagen came across fifth.
“This was fun. I’ve been working for this for a long time,” Boonen told Sporza at the finish. “I was not as fresh as Friday but I timed it well. If my condition is good I don’t need to be afraid of anybody.
“Just because I have won the E3 and Gent-Wevelgem doesn’t mean I’m the favourite for the Ronde [Van Vlaanderen]. Fabian Cancellara is racing very strong.”
Sagan was happy with his race, and conceded that the Belgian was stronger. “I felt that today was the day to get a good result, and I tried in every way to get the best one,” he said. “Daniel Oss set me up beautifully on the final straight and I didn’t make a wrong move. Boonen was simply superior. I congratulate him. For me, it was another important experience for the future.”
Nine get away before GreenEdge goes on the offensive:
A courageous breakaway of nine riders led the way for much of day’s 234 kilometers. A group of seven got away just ten kilometers into the race, but two more took up the chase. Fifteen kilometers later they had attached, establishing Jon Izaguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Vladimir Isaychev (Katusha), Anders Lund (Saxo Bank), Stijn Neirynck (Topsport-Vlaanderen), Koen Barbé (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), Kevin Van Melsen (Accent Jobs-Willams Veranda’s), Thomas Bertolini (Farnese Vini), Yuriy Krivtsov (Lampre-ISD), and Julien Fouchard (Cofidis) as the day’s primary protagonists.
Their lead would get as big as nine minutes as the peloton was content to allow them some room into the first climb of the day, the Casselberg at 137 kilometers. As perhaps a foreshadowing of the fireworks to come, Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM) flatted and faced a harrowing chase back to the bunch, as specatators were already sprinkled throughout the streets.
With GreenEdge taking most of the work at the front of the peloton, and with Sky Procycling and Cavendish never far away, Neirynck appeared to be the strongest in the breakaway. The Topsport-Vlaanderen rider led the escape over many of the early climbs, including the second ascent of the Casselberg.
With 85 kilometers to go, GreenEdge had reduced the gap to six minutes, and swinging around a left hand bend, the Australian team hit the gas with ferocity. With Stuart O’Grady as the brains and Thomas Vaitkus the brawn, the team drove a pace that split the peloton to pieces in a crosswind. Riders scrambled in single-file behind, sensing the danger. Soon, groups had consolidated all over the long, straight road, with Freire being the most notable rider caught behind.
Luca Paolini (Katusha) crashed out of the lead group and faced an extended wait for a new bike from his team car held up behind. The vigilant teams included Sky, who had Cavendish near the front, as well as Garmin-Barracuda and Rabobank. By the time Freire’s group made it back to the peloton, the gap to the breakaway was down to five minutes.
The field was now divided into the breakaway and two distinct chasing groups – the first being driven by GreenEdge and the second by Dominique Rollin (FDJ-BigMat), who rode in support of Arnold Demare. The still-struggling Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) was also in the second group, and save for a short feed zone attack a while later, would play no role in the race’s outcome.
The Bergs take their toll but the favourites remain patient:
Heading up the Catsberg with 75 kilometers to race, GreenEdge eased off the gas, and the second group was able to bridge across thanks to work by Rollin, as well as Euskaltel-Euskadi and Accent Jobs-Willems Veranda’s. The course traversed the climbs of Le Vert Mont and the Vidaigneberg as Vaitkus continued to drive the pace of the peloton and the gap to the break shrank to four and a half minutes.
Garmin-Barracuda and Astana had a presence at the front as the group hit the first ascent of the Baneberg, with 63 kilometers to go. Neirynck again did damage to the breakaway, and as the peloton came through splits appeared on the short but very steep grade. A regrouping was assured at the top, as riders soon hit the feed zone, but perhaps sensing a lull, Gilbert hit out with an Astana rider in tow.
Almost seeming unsure of what to do, given Gilbert’s lack of form but well-earned reputation, Omega Pharma-Quick Step soon had the Walloon reeled in. As the peloton grabbed some lunch, Sky, BMC Racing, and GreenEdge kept the break in check, and the gap moved toward three minutes.
The first of two ascents of the Kemmelberg hit with 55 kilometers to race, and Breschel tested his legs out of the bunch as Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing) made a quick appearance near the front as well. The original nine-man breakaway began to wear down on the steep slopes of the Kemmelberg, so only Lund and Izaguirre powered away.
Both breakaway and peloton took the winding, narrow descent off the climb safely. At 50 kilometers to go, the bunch hit the Schomminkelstraat. Lund gritted his teeth up the climb and Izaguirre hung in, and as the Spaniard came through to do a turn on the front at the top of the climb, it became clear that an impressively strong duo would work together on the front and not be brought back easily.
Lund and Izaguirre gapped the rest of their breakaway mates, building a half-minute lead as the split to the peloton dropped below three minutes. Up the Baneberg for a second time, the pace in the main bunch remained reasonable, to the point where logjams wreaked havoc in the back of the group, as bottlenecks sent riders into ditches and off the back with dropped chains.
A brave duo soldiers on as Fabi breaks things up:
Lund and Izaguirre took advantage of the lull and pulled out some more time. Surprisingly, the chaotic day lacked in big crashes, but one of the major ones took out Juan Jose Oroz (Euskaltel-Euskadi), as well as riders from Landbouwkrediet-Euphony, Liguigas-Cannondale, Lotto-Belisol, and Vacansoleil-DCM. With 40 kilometers left, the bunch readied themselves again for the Kemmelberg.
Up front, Lund began to suffer as Izaguirre pushed the pace. When the peloton came through minutes later, the pace was high but no one gave anything away, as sprinters and Classics stars cycled through, most appearing in good shape. Changes in the course were supposed to make it more difficult in the run in to the finish, but it became clear that another edition of Gent-Wevelgem would be decided in the race’s final flat 35 kilometers.
But at the top of the final climb, the inevitable challenge came from Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan). Using an attack by BMC Racing’s Greg Van Avermaet as a springboard, Cancellara moved away quickly, with only Sagan in his wheel. Unsure of their next move, the peloton let them go, but as the remnants of the breakway were swept up, they showed no such indecisiveness. The exhausted bunch of five attached to Cancellara and Sagan, and the Swiss rider was soon asking Isaychev and Barbé for turns on the front.
While Cancellara’s move would prove fruitless, it sprung the biggest development of the race. As Omega Pharma-Quick Step hit the gas again to reel in the Swiss rider, it left Cavendish and two Sky lieutenants behind. Be it inattentiveness or fatigue from his team-mates, Cavendish was quickly isolated, and despite looking fit and trim, the Manxman faced a difficult chase back into a group that was determined to keep him behind.
The initial chase soon brought back Cancellara, Sagan, and their weary band of five followers, and this group of roughly 25 went to work straightaway to stay ahead of the Cavendish group, which now had Ian Stannard and Mathew Hayman leading it. With 25 kilometers to go, the duo of Lund and Izaguirre still had a minute on the Cancellara/Bonnen group, as it held off Cavendish with a 30-second gap.
Desperation and frustration as sprinters get left behind:
The sprinters caught in the Cavendish group behind soon became desperate. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and John Degenkolb (Project 1t4i) took turns on the front, with Degenkolb making a brief escape, to try and bring the first group back. But they faced a deficit in workers, as the Boonen group had riders from four teams willing to work to keep Cavendish and Greipel behind.
At 18 kilometers to race, the work of the first chase group to stay away from the second had nearly brought Lund and Izaguirre completely back. Boonen chatted with Freire, imploring his Katusha team to keep on the pressure. Paolini, who was strong all day after his crash, took repeated turns with Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Gerald Ciolek. Two kilometers later, after spending more than 200 kilometers off the front, Lund and Izaguirre shook hands and gave in to their fate.
Meanwhile, the Cavendish group was now 45 seconds behind, and it became clear that the race would come down to a sprint from a 30-man group, of which the Manx Missile would not be a part. Omega Pharma-Quick Step was now shedding workers, as Dries Devenyns and then Ciolek dropped back.
Now more than a minute back, Cavendish briefly hit out alone in a final bid to catch up, but he lost momentum as Movistar brought him back and the frustration bubbled for the British sprinter. Thanks to a kindly pull from his team car, Daniele Bennati (Radioshack-Nissan) came back to the main group after a flat. Initially a member of the breakaway, Isaychev gave his team-mate Freire one more pull at the front.
With seven kilometers left, Christian Knees (Sky Procycling) hit out in a bid to upset the apple cart and set up Boasson Hagen. He couldn’t get away, and the pace fell off a bit as Boonen’s remaining team-mates lined up for the finish. Katusha and GreenEdge continued to cycle through at the front, as Matt Goss awaited behind.
In the closing kilometer, Pozzato was present with a team-mate, but the finale seemed set up for a pure sprinter. Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) fought for Freire’s wheel to try and set up Sagan. Vav Avermaet, BMC’s only representative, chased down a late acceleration by a Cofidis rider with Pozzato on his wheel.
But it was Boonen who timed it perfectly as the line approached. Rojas swung wildly from line to line and eventually contacted Tossato, and both went tumbling. Van Avermaet was trapped and came down on top of Tossato. Boasson Hagen and Goss were both frustrated with perceived injustices in the messy sprint, but Boonen came through cleanly.
The in-form Belgian sprinted clear of Sagan and the re-emerging Breschel to take his third Gent-Wevelgem title.