Ster ZLM Toer: Boom opens 2012 account in Jalhay, beats Cavendish

Lars Boom (Rabobank) got his first win of the season in impressive fashion, roaring to the uphill sprint victory in stage three of the Ster ZLM Toer. Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling) was second yet again, while his team-mate Juan Antonio Flecha was third.

“Lars was very strong today,” Rabobank director Erik Dekker said at the finish. “When I heard that Mark Cavendish was still there, of course I began to doubt. But on the other hand, if Cav is a bit on his limit, then it would be an opportunity for Lars. And that was the way it worked out. To be honest, you don’t always expect this when it happens.”

Stage three spanned 184 kilometers, taking riders from Verviers to Jalhay in the Walloon region of Belgium. With rain coming down at the start, a breakaway of four riders quickly built a lead as Team Sky massed at the front of the main bunch.

Nelson Oliveira (Radioshack-Nissan), Jaroslaw Marycz (Saxo Bank), Marco Haller (Katusha) and Dion Beukeboom (Cyclingteam de Rijke) found a gap that was maintained at four minutes. Forty kilometers were covered in the first hour of racing as everyone settled in.

Much of the day looked like an Ardennes Classic race, albeit with less intensity, but the escape held four minutes on the peloton as they approached La Redoute. When the main bunch hit the famous Liege-Bastogne-Liege climb, three minutes in arrears, Radioshack-Nissan team-mates Jan Bakelants and Ben Hermans attacked the bunch with the breakaway group as a carrot.

Wim De Vocht (Accent Jobs-Willems Veranda’s) was an earlier crash victim and was soon off to the hospital for stitches. Not long after attacking, Bakelants and Hermans bridged to the leaders, forming a group of six with an advantage of 2’20”.

The gap soon went out toward four minutes and Oliveira dropped out of the lead group, as did Beukeboom. As the peloton started to close in again, more breakaway riders felt the pressure. Haller was the next to falter, before Bakelants eventually went away on his own in a bid to upset the sprinters.

Three circuits made up the final 35 kilometers, and beginning the final round, Bakelants had a minute over his pursuers. As the kilometers ticked down, so did the gap to the Belgian attacker. Renshaw and Cavendish were both present at the front, with Team Sky pulling, but the finishing climb proved too much for Renshaw.

Cavendish was impressive in second, but the former cyclo-cross world champion was too much and Boom got victory number one of the season.