Freire left empty handed in Gent-Wevelgem

For the second time in a less than a week Oscar Freire (Team Katusha) was left frustrated in a bunch sprint finish, taking 4th place in Gent-Wevelgem. Three days prior to today’s result, the Spaniard had come out second best to Tom Boonen (Omega-Pharma QuickStep) in the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen-Harelbeke and once again it was the Belgian who made the trip to the top step of the podium in Wevelgem.

And just as in Harelbeke, Freire was a victim of his own mistimed sprint. In E3 he had left it too late before a final surge for the line almost had Boonen relegated to second.

This time around Freire was too aggressive, jumping out from the wheel of Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) in the final 200 meters but tiring in the headwind finish. Boonen came through for the win with Peter Sagan (Liqugas-Cannondale) and Matti Breschel (Rabobank) picking up the final podium places.

“There was a lot of headwind. I was in front and started to sprint but from too far out,” he said at the finish.

“Today I didn’t have really good legs like two days ago.”

“Boonen was strong and raced really well. He and his team saved a lot of energy and in the end he was the strongest but did my best today, I just couldn’t win.”

 

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Daniel Benson

Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.