Farrar on fire in Franco-Belge

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American sprinter Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) took his second stage win in the Circuit Franco-Belge on Friday, reminding some of his performance earlier this season when he ultimately racked up three stage wins during Belgium's Eneco Tour. Farrar's Franco-Belge consecutive stage wins served to secure his existing lead in the race's overall.

With two stages left, it seems possible that Farrar could add a second stage win for this season to his palmarès. "We'll know about that on Sunday," Farrar said, not getting ahead of himself. "Today's sprint suited me much better than the one from yesterday, when it was slightly downhill and hard to control."

"This time the approach to the finish was flat and wide - ideal for real sprinters," Farrar said after what was his 10th victory of the season. "The Française des Jeux guys took control of affairs in the final 500 metres. I managed to get out of Sébastien Chavanel's wheel and then went flat out."

Four guys up the road

The peloton headed from Maubeuge, France, to Poperinge, a small town in the Northwest of Belgium. After yesterday's stage, when a long breakaway with three riders proved unsuccessful, today's break featured four riders who took off early.

Lloyd Mondory (AG2R La Mondiale) and younsters Romain Mattheou (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun), Kevin Van Melsen (Verandas Willems) and the well-classified Kris Boeckmans (Belgian National Team) were allowed to build up a lead of up to 12:10. But by the time the peloton had crossed the Belgian border, it was back under control; the peloton, picking up the pace, had dropped the gap to five minutes.

Poperinge criterium

Shortly after entering the local circuit for the first of three 25km laps, Van Melsen dropped out of the leader's group. Team Garmin-Slipstream led the peloton and was in total control of the race.

Boeckmans let the two remaining leaders get away after the third intermediate sprint, but eventually, with about 20km to go, all break riders were reabsorbed by the charging peloton.

Last year's winner, Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank), had a late scare when he punctured twice during the last 15km, when the peloton was going flat out. the Spaniard managed to rejoin the front twice before the end of the race.

A few teams launched late-race attacks, but they never escaped notice by the vigilant sprinters' teams, which set up for a final dash. Française des Jeux tried to set up Sébastien Chavanel, but Farrar profitted from their work and easily outsprinted Alexandre Usov (Cofidis) and Jimmy Casper (Besson Caussures).

Tomorrow's stage starts and finishes in Belgium, where the peloton will tackle 178km from Antoing to Ichtegem.