Sebastian Langeveld took a hard earned victory in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, having attacked solo with over 50 kilometers to go. He was joined by Juan Antonio Flecha for the final 13 kilometers of the race. The two offered a tactical last kilometer, followed by an exciting sprint where Langeveld prevailed by a few centimeters. Flecha's Sky teammate Matthew Hayman beat Yoann Offredo for third place.
The plan for Langeveld was slightly different. "I wanted to make the race after the Taaienberg," he said to Sporza. "But I ended up alone. I did go through with it, since I knew the wind would be in my favor then."
He also profited from teammate Lars Boom sitting in the first chase group. "I had hoped that after the Molenberg a group would come back, but only Flecha arrived." The latter attacked on the Paddestraat, helped by a moment of confusion when Martijn Maaskant and Luca Paolini slipped on the wet cobbles.
Flecha clawed back second after second, reducing the gap from 1'24 (30km to go) to 11 seconds (15km to go). After the two had exited the Lange Munte, Langeveld seemed to have recovered enough and kept the gap at 13 seconds. But then he sat up to wait for Flecha - something that was unlikely to have happened with race radio. The UCI imposed a radio ban this year. Langeveld's sports director confirmed during the race to Belgian TV that he did not tell Langeveld to wait. "No, it was his decision alone."
Langeveld then stayed with Flecha, answered the Spaniard's only attack with five kilometers to go and entered the two-up sprint cautiously optimistic. "I wasn't sure for the sprint, but I did check out the finish. I knew I had to go early."
Flecha was a good sport, having been prevented again from winning a great course. "It was a nice course, with a neat sprint, too. Normally, Sebastian is faster than I, but in such a race and with such weather you will never know. Today the difference was only ten centimeters or so."
Both were visibly tired from the previous effort as they sprinted side by side, trying to control their bikes. "Ok, he came a bit close in the sprint, but that is part of the game." In the first moment, Flecha was not even sure of the outcome. "He put his arms up in the air, but after the finish I was not so sure he had won."
Race favorites Tom Boonen and Philippe Gilbert missed the decisive part of the action after the Taaienberg and finished five minutes behind. That left Jürgen Roelandts as best Belgian, in ninth place. "I knew that Flecha was going to try something on the Paddestraat. I came to within about ten meters, then exploded. In the second part of the Paddestraat I went over my limit and then I knew it was over."
Roelandts was there to help Gilbert, but there was nothing to do today. "Our captain Philippe Gilbert was at the front several times, but after the Leberg he was not there anymore."
Rainy weather like it should be for a classic
It was raining in Belgian, giving true classics weather to the riders. Bram Schmitz (Verandas Willems-Accent), Ronan van Zandbeek (Skil-Shimano) and Steven Van Vooren (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) attacked early to get warm and were quickly joined by Steven Caethoven (Verandas Willems-Accent), Sébastien Chavanel (Quick Step), Sébastien Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet), Mathieu Ladagnous (FDJ) and Aleksejs Saramotins (Cofidis). The eight riders formed the break of the day, gaining a maximum of 8'30 after a good hour of racing.
With 70km to go Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) took a bad line and ended up on the wrong side of the highway, separated by a guard rail. A quick stop and hop brought him back onto the right side of the Belgian road.
With the radios not present the peloton did not take any chances and started to bring down the gap early. Over the Kruisberg, with 67km to go, the difference had dropped below the two-minute mark.
At the bottom of the Taaienberg, the gap was down to 38 seconds. With Quick Step leader Tom Boonen always motivated at 'his' climb, the speed went up. Boonen was closely marked by Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) and the Belgian was unable to create a larger gap. Schmitz, Ladagnous and Saramotins were the last of the break riders to surrender, with around 55 kilometers to go, just before the Eikenberg was tackled.
Langeveld attacked on the Eikenberg, staying away solo. The chase behind him was half-hearted and with 37km to go, the gap was up to a minute between Langeveld and a group of ten riders, containing Niki Terpstra, Flecha and Jürgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto). The peloton with Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Hushovd and Boonen was already over two minutes back, having completely missed the decisive actions of the race.
Over the Paddestraat, Langeveld had 1'24 over the chasers and 2'24 over the peloton, with only 30 kilometers left. Flecha used some confusion after a crash by Luca Paolini (Katusha) and Martijn Maaskant (Garmin-Cervelo) on the Paddestraat to start chasing solo after Langeveld.
Despite a strong headwind, Flecha was riding at over 40km/h. He closed the gap to Langeveld to less than 50 seconds, with 25 kilometers to go. The group that Flecha had belonged to was a further 45 seconds down.
At the 20km banner, Flecha had cut down the gap to 32 seconds, with the chase group out of contention. Flecha used the cobble section of the Lange Munte to reduce the gap to 11 seconds. It went back up to 13 seconds after the cobbles, when the inexplicable happened - Langeveld waited. His sports director confirmed to Dutch TV that it was Langeveld's own decision, giving further speculation that the radio ban is indeed making the races a little less predicatable.
The two joined forces with 13km to go, with Flecha setting a first attack inside the five-kilometer zone. Langeveld was quick to grab the Spaniard's wheel, followed by a brief discussion between the two. There was a truce until the final 500 meters. Langeveld sat behind Flecha and the Dutchman opened the sprint. Flecha did a good job responding, moving alongside Langeveld. The latter held on by a few centimeters.