Cancellara wins E3 Harelbeke 2013

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Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) soloed to an emphatic victory at E3 Harelbeke to deliver an ominous message to his rivals ahead of next Sunday's Tour of Flanders. The Swiss rider attacked alone from an elite group on the Oude Kwaremont with all of 35 kilometres to go and reached Harelbeke with a resounding advantage of 1:08 over Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Daniel Oss (BMC) and Geraint Thomas (Sky).

On a chilly afternoon in Flanders, Cancellara was present and correct at every major rendezvous of the race and then landed the knock-out blow to take his third victory in E3 Harelbeke in four years, and install himself as the outright favourite for Ronde victory on March 31.

Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) had looked to dictate terms when his forcing on the Taaienberg brought an elite group of eight riders - Cancellara included - clear with 60km still to race. With Peter Sagan (Cannondale) caught behind, however, there was a regrouping before the Paterberg, where Boonen again looked to stretch the leaders.

Cancellara was promptly onto Boonen's wheel but he waited until the following Oude Kwaremont to deliver his full response. The Swiss rider's ferocious tempo on the climb burnt everyone off his wheel, with Sagan the last man to yield. On cresting the summit, Cancellara opted to put his head down and drive on alone towards the finish, quickly opening out a lead of over a minute.

"It was intuition to go on the Oude Kwaremont and just see if I could break down the group a little more,” Cancellara said. “We knew the Oude Kwaremont was an important key in the race, as it will be in the Tour of Flanders. We watched some days ago the finale of the E3 of 2011 and 2012 on the computer and this is also part of the preparation for the race."

Cancellara's move spread panic in the chasers behind, and Boonen was left behind as Sagan, Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Thomas, Oss and Sebastien Langeveld (Orica-GreenEdge) tried to limit the damage, but there was nothing to be done in the face of Cancellara's startling show of strength in the finale.

Cancellara coasted up the final climb of the Tiegemberg and maintained his advantage on the flat, exposed run-in to the line in Harelbeke for a win every bit as resounding as his triumph here in 2011. Sagan took the sprint for 2nd ahead of Oss, while Boonen led home the main peloton over two minutes down on Cancellara.

"You have to take it when you can as you never know what tomorrow brings," Cancellara said of the win, his first since the Tour de France prologue last July, and his first road race win since Strade Bianche over a year ago. "After my crash in Flanders last year this was my first race on this special ground. I saw that there were many Omega Pharma-QuickSteps in the front, so I decided to try something. It was a so hard but such a unique experience. Many things crossed my mind. This is a great win for me and for the team. Anything that will come now is a bonus."

How it unfolded

Tom Boonen rolled up for the start with a jersey beating the legend ‘5 times,’ referring to his five wins in the E3 Harelbeke, but most of his fellow riders were more interested in the improvement in temperatures, with many opting for short sleeves.

The unfavourable wind didn’t tempt many riders into a long breakaway attempt, although after 70km of racing, a group of six riders tried their luck. Eloy Teruel (Movistar) was joined by Anders Lund (Saxo-Tinkoff), Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil-DCM), Koen Barbé (Crelan-Euphony), Ruslan Tleubayev (Astana) and Stefan van Dijk (Accent Jobs-Wanty). Twenty kilometres later the six had a gap of three minutes on the peloton. The gap of the leaders grew up to about three minutes until Omega Pharma-Quickstep started setting the pace in the peloton. Around that point, 2011 Tour of Flanders winner Nick Nuyens (Garmin-Sharp) pulled out of the race, which probably means he’ll skip most of the Flemish classics in the coming weeks.

After tackling the first in a long series of hellingen, the breakaway group fell apart as the pace in the peloton kept increasing. After the Boigneberg only Lund, Barbé and Teruel remained in front but after the Stationsberg, shortly before the often crucial Taaienberg, the peloton was back together.

Team Sky led the approach to the Taaienberg but on the climb Boonen forced the issue on his favourite climb, together with Jurgen Roelandts. The duo created a gap but they were soon to be joined by Fabian Cancellara, Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Mathew Hayman (Sky). Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) Sep Vanmarcke (Blanco) and Daniel Oss needed some more time but joined before the descent. The efforts took its toll, however, as Vanmarcke dropped out of the group shortly after, leaving the race with seven leaders.

A counter-attack from Sylvain Chavanel sparked a series of attacks and that eventually saw a chase group with Lars Boom, Sebastian Langeveld, Vincent Jerome and Stijn Vandenbergh got away. World champion Philippe Gilbert tried but failed to bridge up to this group, while Peter Sagan was attentive near the front of the peloton but didn’t make the cut due to suffering from a mechanical problem.

Langeveld, Jerome, Vandenbergh and a struggling Boom bridged up at the Kanarieberg, at 54km from the finish creating a lead group of eleven riders, with three Omega Pharma-Quickstep riders. In the peloton, Heinrich Haussler (IAM) kept the pace high and a little later the Cannondale team of Sagan took over the chase. On the roads towards the triple whammy of the Kapelberg, Paterberg and Oude Kwaremont, Sagan’s four teammates kept the gap below half a minute and gradually brought him back into contention.

By the Kapelberg, Cannondale’s work had seen them catch the leaders. The pace didn’t drop, however, and as soon as the favourites group was caught they were gone again. This time, Sagan took his rightful place in front while Boom dropped out of the equation. Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Andrey Amador (Movistar) bridged up too at the foot of the Paterberg, where Boonen again forced the issue and – tellingly - Cancellara tracked him very closely indeed.

More riders joined at the Oude Kwaremont but halfway up the climb Cancellara upped the pace. The Swiss rider blasted over the cobbles – while snow sidelined sections of the climb – and dropped everybody, with Sagan the last to relent. By the top of the Oude Kwaremont Cancellara had 15 seconds on the first chasers and opted to continue in his effort alone.

Behind, the favourites were strewn across the hillside. Vandenbergh, Stybar and Boonen were distanced while their teammate Chavanel joined Thomas, Oss, Sebastien Langeveld and Sagan in the principal chase group. By the time Cancellara reached the top of the Knokteberg, his lead was up to a minute over the five chasers. Vandenbergh was on his own behind them, just like Stybar and then a second group with Boasson Hagen, Boonen and co trailed Cancellara by 1:40.

Just like in 2011, Cancellara’s show of strength was decisive, as he managed to match and indeed better the pace of the chase group of five riders on the wide roads after the Knokteberg, maintaining a lead of over a minute and cruising to a dominant win in Harelbeke. The Tour of Flanders has its outright favourite.

“That's life,” Cancellara shrugged. “The most important goals are indeed still coming but let's celebrate first. We worked months for this. Now I can tackle the other races in a more relaxed way. I feel renewed confidence with this win but also renewed pressure as well.”

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