Gilbert wins Tour of Belgium opening stage

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Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) has scored his second victory this season by winning the first stage of the Tour of Belgium in Eeklo on Wednesday. The Belgian got the better of his four breakaway companions, relegating Rony Martias (Saur-Sojasun) to second and Tomas Vaitkus (RadioShack) to third.

The race's first stage to and from Eeklo - Gilbert's first competition since his spring classics campaign - may not have been overly difficult, but the extra wet conditions in Belgium certainly made it memorable. "It was a dangerous stage with the rain, so I decided to go for an attack in order to avoid any crashes in the bunch," the 2010 Amstel Gold Race winner said in the finish. "A good group then got away. We rode flat out for 30 kilometres and I was lucky."

The Tour of Belgium started hard and fast, with one of the race's big names already out. The first three hours of racing were done averaging 47 km/h, and the first victim to the rain and the speed was Denis Menchov (Rabobank), who abandoned the event after 40 kilometres because of illness.

About 20 kilometres later, the day's breakaway finally formed. Seven men - Gilbert, Vaitkus, Martias but also David Boucher (Crédit-Agricole), Vidal Celis Zabala (Footon - Servetto), Arnaud Labbe (Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne) and James Vanlandschoot (Verandas Willems) managed to gain some momentum and led the bunch by four minutes.

With one of the race favourites up the road, Quick-Step, Rabobank, Vacansoleil, Katusha and Skil-Shimano quickly organised a chase, but the breakaway riders were strong, strong enough to decide the stage win amongst themselves.

"In the finale, I tried to get away on my own, but I didn't succeed," said Gilbert. With Zaballa and Labbe dropped, the final sprint included five riders. Vaitkus launched from faraway, and Gilbert had no trouble coming past him in the final metres.

By taking the victory, Gilbert also snatched the black overall leader's jersey. "Thursday and Friday will be two delicate stages with a lot of wind, undoubtedly. The time trial on Saturday in Herzele comes before some more hilly stages. The Tour of Belgium is still long and certainly far from being finished," he added, asked whether he was going to defend his jersey.

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