Leopard-Trek Classics leader Fabian Cancellara rode all over the field at E3-Prijs today, leaving the entire race in his wake as he cruised to an easy win after coming back from a day marked by mechanical difficulties. Jürgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) managed to secure second and third respectively out of a broken chase group.
"I think its even more special than last year because I had a lot of bad luck; two punctures, I had to change a bike, no radios, with our car number 23 [in the caravan]," Cancellara said after his victory.
In a matter of 30 kilometers the Swiss rider managed to pull himself from the back of the main peloton with a bike change up to his loyal teammate Stuart O'Grady, who dropped off the front group to help his leader make the move.
"Stuart pulled as long as he could [after I made it up to him] and then I took over."
About his trip to the front of the peloton, Cancellara said he did it on instinct: "Honestly, I didn't know how many riders were at the front. I didn't know how many riders or how many minutes [they had on me].
"The whole team did an amazing job today, and a thanks to everybody," he said warmly.
Cancellara tipped O'Grady's race savvy and willingness to ride as the perfect teammate as a big part of his success. When he was off the front alone, he was focused on the job at hand, "I was thinking only for myself to get the victory."
He will be skipping tomorrow's Gent-Wevelgem, and said today was a way for him to gauge his fitness. "I went deep because I had to, I don't race tomorrow," he concluded.
Few captains present, many possibilites
With many Classics specialists focusing on tomorrow’s Gent-Wevelgem and opting not to race, today’s edition of E3-Prijs began with opportunity for many talented domestiques. Cancellara, O’Grady, world champion Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) and his teammate Heinrich Haussler, Belgian champion Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil) and Lars Boom (Rabobank) represented most of the heavy hitters present on the day.
By the time the race got to the business end of things, there were three groups spanned across the cobbled roads of Belgium. O’Grady represented the only team leader in the front group, and with under 70 kilometers remaining to race the leaders were 8 strong: O’Grady, Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin-Cervelo), Jurgen Vandewalle (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Sébastien Hinault (AG2r La Mondiale), Aliaksandr Kuschinsky (Katusha), Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank-Sungard), William Bonnet (FDJ) and Ben King (Team Type 1). They had a 1 minute and 15 second advantage over the second group on the road of five that included Pieter Serry (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Niko Eeckhout (An Post-Sean Kelly), Maxim Gourov (Astana), Timon Seubert (NetApp) and Hugo Houle (Spidertech p/b C10) who had a further 2 minute advantage over the peloton.
The leaders increased their advantage over the climb of the Eikenberg, as Veranda's Willems-Accent rider Staf Scheirlinckx actively challenged the peloton, eventually being joined by Kevin Van Impe (Quick Step). He dropped off the pace of the Quick Step rider and was shortly joined by his former companion back in the bunch. Behind, Cancellara was forced to deal with his fourth mechanical of the day, eventually trading in his machine for a replacement after being forced to tackle the Stationsberg in a massive gear. He was able to do a quick change with the team car, and found himself back in the race through the team cars quickly.
Garmin-Cervelo took up the reins on the Taaienberg, first with Andreas Klier and then Hushovd forced a stiff pace to the top and again on the Paterberg, while ahead their teammate Vanmarcke pushed the pace and broke away from the front group leaving O’Grady, Bonnet and Hinault to form a chasing trio. The world champion’s effort saw a group of six break loose that contained Niki Terpstra (Quick Step), Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo), Gustav Larsson (Saxo Bank-Sungard), Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Steve Chainel (FDJ) and Vincent Jerome (Europcar). By the time the race reached the 45 kilometer mark the four groups were spread across the road over less than 2 minutes, leaving the race for the top step of the podium wide open.
Spartacus begins his Merckx-like lesson
The Oude Kwaremont climb began to take its toll on the escape groups, with Vanmarcke forging ahead strongly while the others began to fall apart and merge together behind him. Haussler, Larsson, Jerome, Terpstra and Roelandts joined the trio chasing the race leader, while behind Cancellara jumped out of the peloton to put his incredible leap frog of the race into motion. He quickly caught the next group and dragged them up to the third group on the road before reaching the penultimate climb up the Knokteberg. With 26 kilometers remaining the lone leader had 30 seconds on a group of eight, which included Bonnet, Chainel, Haussler, Jerome, Larsson, O'Grady, Roelandts and Terpstra, and had just over 10 seconds on a charging Cancellara.
The Knokteberg saw O’Grady have the presence of mind to sit up for his team leader, while ahead Vanmarcke’s escape ended on the Cote de Trieu. O’Grady drove the pace to bridge the gap to the lead group for his Leopard-Trek teammate. The Australian blew as he closed the gap, but remarkably managed to claw his way back onto the back making it Bonnet, Chainel, Tuft, Jerome, Tankink, Cancellara, O'grady, Terpstra, Larsson, VanMarcke, Haussler, Roelandts, Hinault, Gusev, Ivanov to decide the victor.
Tankink was the next to make a move. He left all but Cancellara, who responded by riding right through the Dutchman to make him the lone leader with 16 kilometers left to race. Like Hushovd, Haussler failed to mark the wheel of the flying Swiss rider, and saw his only chance to join with Tankink and take up the chase. Unsurprisingly, the pair had nothing over the world time trial champion, and rode hard only to see the flying Leopard Trek rider build a 50 second gap over the next 6 kilometers.
Tthe group behind realized they were left to fight for the last two podium places, and Ivanov was first to make a move at the 6 kilometer mark, but couldn’t break the others. Terpstra, Haussler, Tankink rode away from the others with O'Grady tacked on the back, but the day’s effort saw the group come back together.
Under the flamme rouge Cancellara was a minute clear of the others and rode easily to the line repeating his 2010 victory in Harelbeke. Behind the shattered chasers fought for the podium. Vanmarcke somehow summoned up the energy to be first to take up the sprint, but he was unable to hold off Roelandts and Gusev.