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The perfect escape: Wesemann wins Tour of Flanders
Many longtime observers of the Tour of Flanders, the traditional kickoff to northern Europe’s World Cup classics, estimated Sunday’s crowds to be the largest in recent memory for the Belgian race known here as the “Ronde.”
From the frigid morning start in Bruge’s historic Grote Markt to the surprise finish in the small town of Meerbeke, thousands pressed against the barriers lining the 257km course. Most were straining to see, among other things, one last glimpse of Johan Museeuw in action: a legendary Belgian in a legendary Belgian event.
For the majority of those fans, the die-hard Belgium supporters, the day didn’t end the way they had hoped it would. But Steffen Wesemann, a veteran who has been racing with the Telekom/T-Mobile outfit for 12 seasons, didn’t mind. At the end of a blustery day on the rough cobblestone roads of Flanders, the 33-year-old German delivered a knockout punch to those Belgian fans when he outsprinted two of their own — Dave Bruylandts (Chocolate Jacques) and Leif Hoste (Lotto) — to win the 88th Tour of Flanders.
With more than 30 pro wins to his name, Wesemann is always a threat to win a hard race like the Tour of Flanders. He proved his mettle on the punishing cobblestones two years ago when he finished second at Paris-Roubaix. Still, for the fans who came out to wave their yellow Flanders flags and cheer on their Belgian heroes such as Museeuw, Peter Van Petegem, Frank Vandenbroucke and the young Tom Boonen, Wesemann wasn’t what they expected.
The German put himself in position to win when he initiated the final three-man break on the Kapelmuur, the 17th of 18 categorized climbs on the day. Sensing that some of the heavy hitters had been softened up by the pounding of the cobbles and the biting winds, Wesemann made his move over the top of the 825-meter-long climb.
“When I got to the top, I looked back and saw [Bruylandts and Hoste],” Wesemann said. “Then I just worked together with [Bruylandts].”
The trio continued their surge over the final climb, the Bosberg. Twelve seconds behind them was a four-man group: Erik Dekker (Rabobank), Leon Van Bon (Lotto), Andreas Klier (T-Mobile) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo). But Flecha was soon dropped, and with teammates ahead, Van Bon and Klier wouldn’t chase. So 12 seconds was all it took on the smoother, flatter roads that took the lead trio to the finish in Meerbeke.
The main group with the big names, including Museeuw, Van Petegem, Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Davitamon) and U.S. Postal’s George Hincapie, had conceded 22 seconds over the Bosberg and would never see the unlikely lead trio again.
Hincapie, whose U.S. Postal team rode well and put two men — Benôit Joachim and American Tony Cruz — in the day’s first significant break, ended up finishing a disappointing 10th. Postal’s classics leader came into Flanders with good form, having won the Belgian stage race Three Days of De Panne earlier in the week, and he was one of the main animators in the Tour of Flanders.
With 35km to go, Hincapie was riding with what remained of the main field when he made an attack on his own, setting off after a lead group of seven (including Hoste) that had formed 35km earlier on the Paterberg climb. The American was quickly chased down by Boonen, with Boonen’s Quick Step teammate Paolo Bettini, the defending World Cup champion, right behind. Shortly after, Hincapie attacked again, driving the elite group, which would get close — but not close enough.
After overnight rains, the heavy downpours that were forecast on Sunday never came. Instead, racers had to battle fierce winds from the west. The first big break of the day came just 30km into the race, with 26 riders making the selection, including eventual runner-up Hoste, who would stay near the front most of the day.
Ludo Dierckxsens of the Belgian Landbouwkrediet-Colnago team put in one of the day’s most impressive rides, bridging by himself to a lead group that had been whittled down to seven after 140km. That group of eight was finally caught before the Kappelmuur, where Wesemann, Bruylandts and Hoste made their escape.
Approaching the final kilometer, Bruylandts and Hoste, knowing Wesemann was the strongest sprinter of the group, shared words. Bruylandts made one last-ditch effort to break away from the other two, but he was reeled in; Wesemann closed the deal to become the second German ever to win the Ronde.
The German admitted after the race that he was keenly aware of the mistake his teammate and countryman Erik Zabel made two weeks ago at Milan-San Remo when he was pipped at the line by Rabobank's Oscar Freire as the German celebrated his "win" a little too early.
"I wasn't sure I had won," said Wesemann. "So I decided just to lift my arms up after the finish line."
Despite crashing on an early section of cobbles, Freire managed to score three World Cup points by finishing 23rd. Freire, therefore, maintained his overall World Cup lead, taking a three-point advantage over Wesemann into the next round of the World Cup, next Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix. Hoste is now tied with Zabel (T-Mobile) for third place in the World Cup.
Top-Ten
1. Steffen Wesemann (G) T-Mobile, 257km in 6:39:00
2. Leif Hoste (B), Lotto-Domo
3. Dave Bruylandts (B), Chocolat Jacques, both s.t.
4. Leon Van Bon (Nl), Lotto-Domo, at 0:28
5. Erik Dekker (Nl) Rabobank
6. Andreas Klier (G), T-Mobile, both s.t.
7. Rolf Aldag (G) T-Mobile, at 1:09
8. Frank Hoj (Dk), CSC, at 1:16
9. Paolo Bettini (I), Quick Step-Davitamon
10. George Hincapie (USA) U.S. Postal, all s.t.
World Cup standings, after two rounds of 10
1. Oscar Freire (Sp), 103 points
2. Steffen Wesemann (G), 100
3. Leif Hoste (B), 70
4. Erik Zabel (G), 70
5. Erik Dekker (Nl), 51
6. Dave Bruylandts (B), 50
7. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), 50
8. Paolo Bettini (I), 44
9. Leon van Bon (Nl), 40
10. Alessandro Petacchi (I), 40
11. Andreas Klier (G), 37
12. Max van Heeswijk (Nl), 36
13. Igor Astarloa (Sp), 32
14. George Hincapie (USA), 29
15. Rolf Aldag (G), 28
16. Romans Vainsteins (Lat), 28
17. Peter Van Petegem (B), 26
18. Frank Hoj (Dk), 24
19. Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero (Sp), 20
20. Thierry Marichal (B), 15
Team Standings
1. T-Mobile (G), 20 points
2. Fassa Bortolo (I), 15
3. Rabobank (Nl), 13
4. Cofidis (F), 12
5. U.S. Postal (USA), 11
6. Lotto (B), 9
7. Quick Step (B), 7
8. Euskaltel (Sp), 7
9. Saeco (I), 4
10. Gerolsteiner (G), 4
11. Phonak (Swi), 4
12. Chocolat Jacques (B), 3
13. Alessio (I), 3
14. CSC (Dk), 1
15. La Boulangere (F), 1
To see how today's race unfolded, Click here to read our Live reports from today's race.
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