Vandewalle claims Belgian time trial title

Kristof Vandewalle (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) became the new Belgian time trial champion after slaying his competitors on the 41.4km course. Second placed finisher Ben Hermans (Radioshack-Nissan) was a distant 48 seconds behind, with defending champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC) more than a minute back in third.

Pacing was key in the test and Vandewalle, who was behind at the first time check, kept his pace steady on the second lap to move into a slim lead over Gilbert. It was on the final lap of the course that Vandewalle pulled out his commanding margin of victory.

"It's a great day for me," Vandewalle said. "I was looking forward to this race. I trained a lot in the last week to be competitive here, and in the upcoming races. Yesterday I did a recon of the parcour, and I had a feeling it could be a good track for me. There were a lot of uphill sections where you had to use the small gear, and keep a good rhythm. So today, I did it.

"The goal was to take a place on the podium. It was even better then I expected! It's my first victory of the season, after a first part of the year with a lot of problems due to a virus. Since July at the Tour of Austria, things changed. I was second in the TT there.

"So far I haven't felt like the TT Belgian Champion," Vandewalle continued. "Here there were a lot of good riders, I think I will realize what I did only in the next days. Now I will leave immediately for La Vuelta. I feel good and I really hope to do a good race there and show also my new Belgian TT Champion jersey!"

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