Omloop Het Nieuwsblad turned out to be exactly the Belgian drama on could expect from the race. The weather conditions were however excellent and the cobble stone sections were dry but flat tires among Team Saxo Bank-riders and other favorites had their impact on the race.

Quick Step’s Tom Boonen had a puncture with 25 kilometers to go and he had to dig deep to close the gap of 25 seconds to the front group but he was unsuccessful. Before the Belgian favorite made it back to the front, Juan Antonio Flecha exploded the group leaving the peloton, lead by Thor Hushovd’s Team Cervelo to close the gap.

But Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky) insisted on keeping the lead and he crossed the finish line alone and took the win.

Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo) took second place in front of Tyler Farrar (Garmin) 22 seconds behind the winner.

”As usual during Belgian races in early Spring, you need to have luck on your side in order to succeed. Today, Baden Cooke had an unfortunate crash at a crucial moment of the race and we were not able to put him back in position before the finale. Both Matti Breschel and Stuart O’Grady had punctures and instead of digging too deep and finish among the 25 best I thought it made more sense to just go with the flow in order to be ready for yet another hard race tomorrow in Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne where I am very optimistic on our behalf”, says sports director Torsten Schmidt after the race

1 Juan Antonio Flecha 5.13.18
2 Heinrich Haussler 0.22
3 Tyler Farrar
4 Luca Paolini
5 Marcel Sieberg
6 Edvald Boasson Hagen
7 Niko Eeckhout
8 Bernhard Eisel
9 Tom Veelers
10 Filippo Pozzato

Photo by:CorVos Pro
Story by: Team Saxo Bank