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RACE REPORTS: PIPPO POZZATO KEEPS TOMMEKE BOONEN FROM RECORD FIFTH WIN AT E3 PRIJS VLAANDEREN
Brecht Decaluwé-RBA Classics Correspondent
March 28, 2009
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(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Italian glamour boy Filippo 'Pippo' Pozzato won the 52nd edition of the semi-classic E3 Prijs Vlaanderen in Harelbeke, Belgium. 27 year-old Pozzato surprisingly held off Harelbeke's quadruple winner Tom Boonen and Astana's amazing energizer bunny Maxim Iglinsky in a three-up sprint for the win. One week ahead of the legendary Tour of Flanders, team Quick Step, Cervélo and Columbia showed they have the numbers to battle along, while the local team Silence-Lotto once again missed out on the front of the race on Saturday in Harelbeke.
After 208 kilometers of rain, hail, wind and cobbles, as American George Hincapie described this mini Tour of Flanders after the race, it was Pozzato who grabbed a morale boosting first win of the season in Harelbeke. The popular blond star from Veneto had made a promise to Katusha's iconic team director Jef Braeckevelt last Wednesday. “(Pozzato) told me that he would come up from Monaco for nothing less than the victory,” Braeckevelt said.
Smilin' Pippo
(Photo: Brecht Decaluwé-RBA Classics Correspondent)
Pozzato smiled when Road Bike Action reminded him about that promise. “This is an important race and I had enough of my places of honor this season. I worked very hard to be good between 'la primavera' (Milano-Sanremo) and Paris-Roubaix and today I was rewarded for those efforts,” Pozzato said post-race. But in a humble turn, the Italian pointed out that Tornado Tom Boonen did most of the work in the escape group that got away on penultimate 'helling' of the day with 25km to go. In the headwind sprint, the Belgian sprinter was surprisingly easy beaten by Pozzato. “I was forced into the lead by a weird maneuver from Iglinsky and then I lacked explosiveness in the sprint; the cold air takes away 15% away of my possibilities,” Boonen said after the sprint.
Astana’s Iglinsky was delighted with his performance. “To me it was a surprise to be in the mix today. Too bad I had nothing left for the sprint,” the Astana rider said to Road Bike Action after the race. Columbia's George Hincapie ended up eighth at E3 Prijs Vlaanderen and complained about shifting problems on the cobbled hills that slowed him. “It was a hard race but I felt good. I think I am in good shape for Flanders and Roubaix; to me they are the most important races of the year,” Hincapie said.
The classical Belgian race had a classical run up to the finale as a four-man breakaway group was allowed to take their distance early on. But thirty kilometers from the finish, the last rider of this escape group was brought back by an attack unleashed by Quick Step’s Stijn Devolder, who had left the peloton a little earlier on, as he scaled the the tenth climb of the day, the tough cobbled Oude Kwaremont ascent. “With the headwind I found out front, it was too far to go on alone,” Devolder said.
On the next climb teammate Tommeke Boonen unleashed his devils and only smooth operator Pozzato could hold Boonen's wheel, while Iglinsky then impressively bridged up in his own right after the Knokteberg. The chase group behind featured Columbia’s Hincapie and Burghardt, Rabobankers Nuyens and Langeveld and Cervelo’s Hushovd, but they couldn't close down the gap as Quick Step’s Chavanel and Devolder were there to cover for leader Boonen. The lead trio sprinted for the victory in Harlebeke, while the chase group split apart in the end and Norwegian powerful Viking Thor Hushovd took fourth ahead of Quick Step's Chavanel and Devolder.
E3 Prijs Vlaanderen / 208km
1. Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Team Katusha / 5h11’49” (40.024 km/hr. avg. speed)
2. Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step
3. Maxim Iglinskyi (Kaz) Astana
4, Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervélo @ :45”
5. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step
6. Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step
7. Nick Nuyens (Bel) Rabobank
8. George Hincapie (USA) Columbia
9. Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Rabobank @ all same time
10. Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Columbia @ 1’02”
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