13th Memorial Rik van Steenbergen - 1.2

Belgium, September 8, 2004

2003 Results Results Past winners

No bunch sprint, but Boonen wins anyway

By Jeff Jones

Tom Boonen (Quick.Step-Davitamon) gave yet another demonstration of his talents as a rider by winning today's 13th Memorial Rik van Steenbergen, which finished in a five man sprint. Boonen covered all the important moves and was able to come past defending champion Nico Eeckhout (Lotto-Domo) in the last 100m to win by a bike length. Third place went to Ralf Grabsch (Team Wiesenhof), while Gerben Löwik (Chocolade Jacques) and Oscar Laguna (Relax-Bodysol) rounded out the top five.

It was Boonen's 17th win of the season, and together with Alejandro Valverde and Damiano Cunego, he has signaled the rise of a young generation of stars. "Strangely it worked, but I didn't feel good," said Boonen afterwards. "The legs weren't super. It was best if I attacked myself. If I waited, the others would have attacked until I was completely dead. Now I got myself into the front group with the right guys. Nico Eeckhout was my biggest rival."

How it unfolded

The race was run over 201 km, starting and finishing in Aartselaar (near Antwerp), taking in a 150 km loop around Mechelen and ending with six laps of an 8 km circuit. The start was tailwind assisted and fast, with nearly 47 km covered in the first hour. There were plenty of attacks and splits in the bunch, but it wasn't until km 75 that a group of 12 riders managed to get clear. It took them 10 km to establish a gap, but the peloton finally eased up and let them go.

The riders in the break included: Tom Boonen (Quick.Step), Steven Kleynen (Vlaanderen-T Interim), Oscar Laguna (Bodysol), Nico Eeckhout and Aart Vierhouten (Lotto-Domo), Julien Smink (BankGiroLoterij), Gerben Löwik (Chocolade Jacques), Dmitri Fofonov (Cofidis), Tom Steels (Landbouwkrediet), Jeremy Hunt (MrBookmaker), Remmert Wielinga (Rabobank) and Ralf Grabsch (Wiesenhof) and it was certainly a serious move. Although Pronk, Miorin and Mattan tried to bridge the gap when it was around two minutes, they failed and the 12 leaders rode out to a 3'15 advantage with 78 km to go.

A crash in the feed zone took out James Vanlandschoot (Bodysol) with a suspected broken collarbone, as Jong Vlaanderen 2016 and Credit Agricole took up the chase of the leaders. But Quick.Step also put men at the front of the peloton to interrupt the rhythm, allowing the leaders to gain more time. Eventually the chase clicked into gear but there wasn't enough firepower in it and the break maintained a 2'30 advantage with 20 km to go.

The leading group realised that it would stay clear and the attacks started: first Vierhouten went, trying to set up his team captain Eeckhout, but Boonen was too strong and chased him down. A counter by Fofonov helped to reduce the group to 11, then Boonen himself went at 17 km to go and was chased down by Löwik and Grabsch. Laguna and Eeckhout managed to bridge up with 15 km left and that was the final selection.

Laguna was clearly the weakest of the group, but he hung on and ensured a top five spot. With 2 km to go, Boonen attacked again with Grabsch, forcing Eeckhout to put in a big effort to catch them. The five man group reformed and Laguna played his only card and attacked with 1 km to go, but Boonen and Eeckhout were straight onto him. Löwik played his card and countered with 600m out, and Boonen hesitated, almost too much. But the big Belgian finally wound it up and closed the gap, allowing Grabsch and Eeckhout to come past him for a moment before putting in his final kick to the line to win.

Results - 201 km

1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon                4.19.00 (46.517 km/h)
2 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Domo                              
3 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                           
4 Gerben Löwik (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf         
5 Oscar Laguna Garcia (Spa) Relax-Bodysol                     
6 Tom Steels (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                1.16
7 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans                   
8 Julien Smink (Ned) BankGiroLoterij                          
9 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone      
10 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Lotto-Domo                           
11 Steven Kleynen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim                  
12 Remco Van Der Ven (Ned) BankGiroLoterij                2.23
13 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Crédit Agricole                    
14 Chris Peers (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf         
15 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim                  2.29
16 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank                             
17 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Lotto-Domo                            
18 Peter Wuyts (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans                  
19 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago             
20 Wim De Vocht (Bel) Relax-Bodysol                           
21 Rémy Pauriol (Fra)                                         
22 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago          2.46
23 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team CSC                             
24 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon                 2.51
25 René Obst (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                         3.00
26 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole                         
27 Roy Sentjens (Ned) Rabobank                                
28 Rik Reinerink (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf       
29 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance                 
30 Sven Renders (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016                    
31 Sébastien Mattozza (Bel) Flanders-Afin.com                 
32 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone    
33 Björn Leukemans (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans          3.05
34 Wesley Van Speybroeck (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim       3.09
35 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon                 
36 Carlo Scognamiglio (Ita)                                   
37 Allan Bo Andresen (Den) BankGiroLoterij                    
38 Aaron Kemps (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon                     
39 Laurent Brochard (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance                     
40 Moreno Fernandez (Spa)                                     
41 Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016                  
42 Tommy Van De Gehuchte (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016           
43 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim             
44 Kenneth Mercken (Bel)                                      
45 Kevin Neyrinck (Bel)                                       
46 Jürgen Landrie (Bel) Flanders-Afin.com                     
47 Sam Van Rooy (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016                    
48 Luis Perez (Spa)                                           
49 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Rabobank                                
50 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf       
51 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone        
52 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team CSC                                
53 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole                  
54 Uwe Hardter (Ger) Gerolsteiner                             
55 Jérôme Lepron (Fra) Flanders-Afin.com                      
56 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim              
57 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Domo                         
58 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016                   
59 Michael Blanchy (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf     
60 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago             
61 Maxim Rudenko (Ukr) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf       
62 Rudi Kemna (Ned) BankGiroLoterij                           
63 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance                   
64 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                      
65 Simone Cadamuro (Ita) De Nardi                             
66 Bekim Christensen (Den) Team CSC                           
67 Yuri Mitlushenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago             
68 Jehudi Schoonacker (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim              
69 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank                               
70 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                
71 Bobbie Traksel (Ned) Rabobank                              
72 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank                               
73 Matthé Pronk (Ned) BankGiroLoterij                         
74 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)                                      
75 Aron Huysmans (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016                   
76 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon              
77 Jef Peeters (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim                     
78 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone      
79 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans                  
80 Roger Hammond (GBr) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans                
81 Damien Monier (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone       
82 Simon Gerrans (Aus)                                        
83 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank                                   
84 Jimmi Madsen (Den) Team CSC                                
85 Thierry Masschelein (Bel) Flanders-Afin.com                
86 Nico Mattan (Bel) Relax-Bodysol                            
87 Marco Bos (Ned) BankGiroLoterij                            
88 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans          
89 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Lotto-Domo                           
90 Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) De Nardi                          
91 Daniel Meinke (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                         
92 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) Flanders-Afin.com                  
93 Davide Bramati (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon                  
94 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner                           
95 Allan Johansen (Den) BankGiroLoterij                       
96 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim               
97 Leif Hoste (Bel) Lotto-Domo                                
98 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) Team CSC                             
99 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Domo                         
100 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto-Domo                         
102 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole                   
103 Jacky Durand (Fra) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                
104 Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago             
105 Addy Engels (Ned) BankGiroLoterij                         
106 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone
107 Steven De Neef (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016                 
108 Stefan Wijnands (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016                
109 Graziano Gasparre (Ita) De Nardi                          
110 Devis Miorin (Ita) De Nardi                               
111 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Crédit Agricole

Past winners

2003 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Domo           199 km in 4.42.00
2002 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Coast        200 km in 4.25.00
2001 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
2000 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Française Des Jeux 203 km in 4.24.40
1999 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 200 km in 4.32.51
1998 Jan Svorada (Cze)
1997 Andrej Tchmil (Ukr)
1996 Jans Koerts (Ned)
1995 Tom Steels (Bel)
1994 Djamolidine Abdujaparov (Uzb)
1993 Mario Cipollini (Ita)
1992 Olaf Ludwig (Ger)


Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com