Selig sprints to victory

German stagiaire Rüdiger Selig (Leopard Trek) gave a fine demonstration of his finishing speed by sprinting to victory in Binche-Tournai-Binche/Memorial Frank Vandenbroucke on Tuesday. The 22-year-old outstripped Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank-Sungard) and Adrien Petit (Cofidis) to claim the win, his first since joining Leopard Trek in August.

A rapid finale to the 202km race saw Ben Hermans (RadioShack) and Bram Tankink (Rabobank) attempt to forge clear, but the pair were unable to put daylight between themselves and the peloton, and it all came down to the bunch finish.

Selig had shown signs of his form with a string of strong showings over the weekend at the Circuit Franco-Belge, and he transformed that growing confidence into victory with an assured sprint in Binche.

The German recently finished 4th in the under 23 road race at the UCI World Championships. One of the men who denied Selig a podium spot, silver medallist Adrien Petit, was also in the mix in Binche, but he could only manage third place, just ahead of Selig’s teammate Davide Viganò.