Boonen captures E3 crown
Tom Boonen continued his classics resurgence with a narrow victory in the sprint at E3 Harelbeke.
Last Updated: 23/03/12 6:19pm
Tom Boonen continued his classics resurgence with a narrow victory in the bunch sprint at E3 Harelbeke.
The Belgian was active in moves all day but with the race coming back together in the closing kilometres it was still the Omega Pharma-Quickstep rider who had the legs to take out the sprint.
Boonen claimed a photo finish from Oscar Freire (Katusha) while Bernhard Eisel rounded out the podium for Team Sky after a hard day of racing.
13 tough 'hellingen' climbs saw the bunch stretched to its limits with a number of splits forming along the race's 203-kilometre route.
The final break to be pulled back in, Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana) held a slender advantage after the final climb but were up against it as the chasing pack came back together as the race crossed the Schelde.
Up until that point an elite group had looked like staying clear after the one-two punch of the cobbled Paterberg and Oude-Kwaremont climbs.
Those riders did not bargain on Fabian Cancellara however, the RadioShack-Nissan rider and victor of the last two years found himself plagued by bad luck but still helped pace a number of riders back into a race-winning position.
Classic action
There was a fast pace from the outset as the riders left Harelbeke, yet one man in difficulties early on was pre-race favourite Cancellara after a crash and two subsequent punctures.
The Paddestraat cobbled section saw a break finally head clear, nine riders building out a gap of six minutes and 45 seconds before the chase efforts began on the approach to the Muur.
A fight for position broke out behind, with Team Sky arriving on the front to drive the pace alongside Omega Pharma-Quickstep
Things stayed together until, as is traditional, Boonen put in a huge attack on the Taaienberg, Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin-Barracuda) one of the only men able to stay in his wheel.
Shortly after two groups joined together to make a dangerous move of around 18 riders - featuring Edvald Boasson Hagen and Ian Stannard of Team Sky.
With a number of elite contenders up the road the peloton were having none of it, and we had to wait until 38km from home before Boonen attacked again on the Paterberg, powering through the remnants of the day's break.
Frantic finale
Following the move Cancellara then attacked on the Oude Kwaremont but suffered a mechanical and dropped back, only to be taken out during a bike change in a collision with Carlos Barredo (Rabobank).
On a mission the Swiss rider helped bridge a huge amount of time back to the front, while in the confusion Simon Spilak (Katusha), Muravyev and Chavanel fired off the front.
With Spilak dropped on Knokteberg, the remaining duo could not quite hold on, setting up a bunch sprint which saw Boonen back to his dominant best.
