Nuyens victorious at Dwars door Vlaanderen

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Nick Nuyens won Dwars door Vlaanderen out of a late break, finishing only a split second ahead of the field. His break companion Geraint Thomas (Sky) finished right behind him, with Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) winning the field sprint to take third.

Nuyens and Thomas had attacked the peloton with 20 km to go, catching a leading trio. Frederic Amorison (Landbouwkrediet), who had been away for 140 km, was the only one able to stay with them but he was dropped at the flamme rouge. The escapees never had more than a 21-second lead, and usually less, but the late-joining duo were able to hold on to the end.

Nuyens had left Rabobank after two years to lead Saxo Bank-SunGard in the Classics. He has the GP de Wallonie, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Omloop Het Volk to his credit, going back to 2006.

Sunny and warm

Pleasant spring sunshine and still conditions greeted the riders as they gathered in Roeselare for the start of Dwars door Vlaanderen, and the consensus in the Grote Markt was that the lack of wind would mean that the race would not be blown apart until the succession of cobbled climbs in the final 70km or so.

The first move to gain any serious advantage arrived soon after the peloton passed through Waregem for the first time, 60km into the race. Frederic Amorison (Landbouwkrediet), Rob Goris (Veranda’s Willems-Accent), Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano) and Dries Hollanders (An Post-Sean Kelly) forged clear and by the foot of the first day’s first climb, the Nieuwe Kwaremont (90km), they had a gap of four minutes.

Behind, there was no discernible rise in pace in the peloton as they hit the first of the race’s twelve hellingen. Even when the lead reached six minutes at the top of the Kattenberg (110km), no team showed any interest in taking charge of the pursuit behind, but the situation was to change 70km from home, when Kevin Van Impe (Quick Step) launched a speculative effort. Garmin-Cervélo, and Johan Van Summeren in particular, took up the chase and duly ignited the battle for positions at the front end of the bunch in earnest.

On the climb of the Eikenberg (140km), it was Tom Boonen (Quick Step) himself who hit the front, and his effort had the effect of stringing out the peloton and weeding out some of the weaker elements at the rear of the field. The Belgian even briefly went clear with Matt Hayman (Sky) before relenting over the top of the climb. Meanwhile, Hollanders had finally lost contact with the break up ahead after struggling on the previous climbs.

After Boonen’s show of individual force, Leopard Trek gave a demonstration of their collective strength: first Joost Posthuma enjoyed a brief rally off the front, and then the Luxembourg team hit the front en masse 55km from home and began to organise the pursuit of the remaining escapees.

By the approach to the Oude Kwaremont with 37km to go, the main peloton had been thinned out significantly, with Garmin-Cervélo now prominent at the head of affairs. On the climb itself, Amorison decided it was time to shed himself of his breakaway companions and go for broke as the gap fell below two minutes, although Goris would get back on 10km later.

Behind, Nick Nuyens (Saxo Bank-SunGard) tackled the climb with zeal and attacked from the front of the chasing peloton, and when he was reeled back, Boonen again came through and began to force the pace, with Van Avermaet, Flecha and Cancellara all keeping a close watch on the resurgent Belgian.

Immediately after the Kwaremont came the Paterberg, and while Amorison still had a 1:30 advantage, with Goris close behind, the main chase group was now slashing his lead. Again it was Boonen who came to the front and ratcheted up the pace on the climb, driving the home fans into a frenzy. Although he succeeded in lining out the group, he was unable to shed himself of any of the major favourites, with Flecha and Offredo queuing up behind him.

After the Paterberg, however, the chase did finally split. Alessandro Ballan (BMC), Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Niki Terpstra (Quick Step) were among those to be caught on the wrong foot as the group broke up under impetus from Garmin-Cervelo and Leopard Trek, although they managed to get back on after a frantic chase. André Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) was not so fortunate, however, and he was caught behind.

A searing turn on the flat from Fabian Cancellara strung things out still further, and when he relented, Nick Nuyens and Geraint Thomas (Sky) went clear. They bridged to Amorison and Goris, but with Garmin-Cervélo and Leopard Trek again organising the pursuit, they had just 10 seconds in hand with 20km to go.

Goris got dropped and the remaining trio clung tenaciously to their small lead, even building it out to more than 20 seconds. A high-powered chase group couldn't organise itself to catch them and was caught again by the peloton. Garmin-Cervelo then moved to the lead of the peloton to reel in the escapees.

Nuyens led the trio up the Nokereberg near the end, looking very determined. But by the descent, they had already started looking back as the gap dwindled towards the ten-second mark.

Niki Terpstra of Quick Step rode aggressively in the finale, attacking often. The Dutch champion made a serious break with seven km to go, accompanied by Sky's Juan Antonio Flecha, but the field pulled them back, too.

The leading trio managed to carry a seven-second gap under the one-km marker, and then Nuyens and Thomas accelerated. They managed to stay away until the end by the slimmest of margins with the wily Belgian veteran easily outsprinting the British road champion.