Keukeleire crowned king of Le Samyn

Image 1 of 11

Jens Keukeleire (Cofidis) unleashed a wily sprint to win Belgian one-day race Le Samyn on Wednesday. The young Belgian avoided the tussle behind as he shot up the left-hand side of the road to win by a bike length over Gregory Joseph (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Cédric Pineau (Equipe Roubaix Lille Metropole).

Despite its sprint finale, the 191.9-kilometre race had been marked a long break. Five riders got away and had held a lead of five minutes with 75 kilometres to go, but the gap was dropping rapidly. With 65 km to go, and a 3:35 lead, three of the riders grew anxious and launched a pre-emptive strike; Steve Chainel (BBox Bouygues Telecom), Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur-Sojasun) and Jean Zen (Palmans-Cras) the riders to go away.

Behind them, there were multiple attacks out of the rapidly moving peloton, but none was able to establish itself. After the escape group split, the gap began to stabilise once more, but the lead trio never really had a chance to stay away to the end.

With 25 kilometres to go, the attack was over. A Saxo Bank rider used the opportunity to try and get away, but he too was caught. After a series of solo attempts to avoid a mass sprint an 11-strong group showed promise but was only able to maintain a slight lead and was once more drawn back into the fold.

Remi Cusin (Cofidis) and Guillaume Levarlet (Saur- Sojasun) were the next to go, at the 18 kilometre marker, and behind them the peloton temporarily splintered under the high tempo. After forcing a concerted chase, the two finally roped in with only five kilometres to go. Marcus Eichler (Milram) jumped and passed the two leaders moments before they were caught by the main field.

Eichler's challenge faded as Saxo Bank led a now reduced peloton under the red kite. The race charged up the slight climb to the finish line, but it was Keukeleire that snuck up the left side of the final run-in to take victory by a clear margin.