Countdown to the 'Ronde': Danish champ wins in Flanders

Yesterday Dwars door Vlaanderen, the first of the Flemish semi-classics that lead up to the Tour of Flanders on 4 April, was held in Waregem and saw the confirmation of what many insiders already knew for some time: Matti Breschel is a new classics rider to be reckoned with. The current 25-year-old Danish champion took advantage of an incredible pacing effort by his swiss teammate Cancellara to ride away from a small group with 21 kilometers to go. It wasn't really an attack, it was just Cancellara pulling over to the right, and the riders behind following him while Breschel moved left and gently accelerated. He got 20 seconds out of the blue and when French cyclocross rider Steve Chainel launched the first countermove it was already too late. Chainel couldn't bridge the gap to Breschel, was joined by Dutchman Niki Terpstra and Belgian Bjorn Leukemans, but the three of them never came closer than 11 seconds.

It was the sort of victory that could easily turn out to be a career-defining one. Breschel will be regarded as a potential winner now and no longer a contender. Together with Cancellara Team Saxo Bank may even have the strongest duo of all. Incredibly absent yesterday was Team Quickstep, usually the dominating force in the one-day classics. Tom Boonen, very strong himself, was not for the first time this year isolated in the finale. The other Belgian squad, Omega Pharma-Lotto, had Roelandts up front for a while, and Van Avermaet showed himself towards the end, but none of them gave the impression they are potential race winners in the next days. Hoste, three times second in the Tour of Flanders but never a winner, did not feature at all. Philippe Gilbert did not ride yesterday.

I guess the biggest conclusion from yesterday's Dwars door Vlaanderen is the comeback at the highest level of Fabian Cancellara. The swiss time trial champion and former Paris-Roubaix and Milano-Sanremo winner has made the Tour of Flanders his biggest objective of the 2010 season. Yesterday he showed he is serious about it. The pace he set towards the end was absolutely blistering and left several top riders gasping for breath behind him. Others simply got dropped from the group and that on flat roads! Boonen better be warned: if he allows Cancellara to take five metres in the Tour of Flanders, he will be riding for second place.

Race result

1. Matti Breschel (DEN, Saxo Bank)
2. Bjorn Leukemans (BEL, Vacansoleil) at 7"
3. Niki Terpstra (GER, Milram)
4. Steve Chainel (FRA), Bouyges Telecom)
5. Matthew Hayman (AUS, Team Sky)
6. Luca Paolini (ITA, Acqua & Sapone)
7. Wouter Mol (NED, Vacansoleil)
8. Tom Veelers (NED, Rabobank)
9. Stijn Vandenbergh (BEL, Katusha)
10.William Bonnet (FRA, Bouyges Telecom)

Links

Dwars door Vlaanderen highlights on Youtube
Matti Breschel on wikipedia