The race started with an incredible high speed. After only three kilometres the peloton was split into two groups. A group
with 18 riders manage to break off but after Paolo Longo Borghini was dropped the other 17 riders were caught as well. After
17 kilometres all riders were together again.
For a while the bunch stayed together and even the cobblestone sector at the Steenstraat did not animate any riders
to attack. After 85 kilometres Saunier Duval's Italian neo-pro Ermanno Capelli attacked at the 'de Moeren' cobblestone sector.
At the feeding zone in Poperingen Capelli had a lead of more than 10 minutes. Capelli came solo to the Monteberg
and the Kemmelberg.
At the summit of the Kemmelberg the Italian rider had only six minutes left of his lead. The winner of last sundays Tour of Flanders, Stijn Devolder, came to the front of the bunch as the riders started to climb the Kemmelberg. Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas)
took over from Stijn Devolder halway at the climb andcreated a little gap. Pozzato had company: CSC's Matti Breschel joined
him and soon they were joined by Omloop Het Volk winner Philippe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux).
With 50 kilometres to go the three counter attackers were a little bit more than three minutes behind escapee Capelli.
The bunch was 1:30 behind the chasing trio. With 40 kilometres to go Breschel had bad luck. The CSC rider had a
puncture and after he received a new wheel he did not manage to get back to Pozzato and Gilbert.
The last time that the riders had to climb the Kemmelberg, Capelli was still leading the race but Pozzato and Gilbert were
close and the bunch followed at 1:30. The bunch was split into several groups at the Kemmelberg.
With 26 kilomteres to go Gilbert and Pozzato caught Capelli. But the Dutch Rabobank team was working hard to catch the
three race leaders. The bunch was only 30 seconds behind the escapees.
With 25 kilometres to go the three were caught by a group with almost 50 riders. Martin Elmiger (AG2R) and CSC's Krt-Asle
Arvesen attacked. Christophe Mengin (Francaise des Jeux) tried to bridge to the two men breakaway but he did not succeed.
Behind the two new race leaders the pack was very nervous.
Although Elmiger and Arvesen received unexpected help from several motorbikes with photographers and with 10 kilometres
to go they got company from Frederic Guesdon (Francaise des Jeux), Stuart O' Grady (CSC) and Manuel Quinziato (Liquigas).
But the five riders did not really get away from the main group.
Just as the breakaway group was about the get caught O'Grady and Quinziato accelerated . But the duo was caught
with two kilometres to go. Rabobank's Oscar Freire won the sprint with more than a bike length. Swiss rider Aurélien Clerc
(Bouygues Telecom) came in second. Quicksteps Wouter Weylandt came in third.
Oscar 'Oscarito' Freire is the first Spanish
rider to win Gent Wevelgem. Freire told Rabobank's team website rabobank.nl: "What this victory in Gent-Wevelgem means to
me? I am the first Spaniard to win here. So that makes this special."
Freire continued by saying: "My legs were good, but I also saw that the team was riding really well. We first tried to
control the group fifty kilometers into the race but that failed. We then controlled the escapes and took to the front again
in the finale. That turned out to be the right tactic."
CSC was very active as well and Aussie Stuart O'Grady showed he is ready for Paris - Roubaix. O'Grady won the French classic
last year and would like to defend his title on Sunday.
"We did really well today. We had an experienced team and all our riders knew from the previous years, when to attack,
but unfortunately we lacked that last bit to make it," said CSCsports director Scott Sunderland at the team website team-csc.com
and added:
"Stuart has been trying to find that last bit he was lacking to be on top form and it looks like he's found
it now. Kurt wasn't disappointed, but not 100% happy with Ronde van Vlaanderen on Sunday, but today he felt strong and at
ease."
German veteran Erik Zabel came in fourth. His teammates worked hard to keep the front together after the peloton broke
into two large groups at the Kemmelberg. "Then we really had to work hard to hold the field together so that we Erik could
hit the final sprint," said Martin Müller at the Milram team website team-milram.com.
Milram's team manager, Gerry van Gerwen was satisfied with the performance of the blue train. "I am very satisfied with
the performance of our team. Of course it is too bad, to just miss the podium, but the manner in which we presented ourselves
today was very positive."
Tom Boonen did not completely recover from last Sundays Tour of Flanders yet. "I did not feel fresh after the demolishing
Tour of Flanders. Because of that I couldn't go really deep." Boonen added: "I have a very important appointment on Sunday."
