Boonen wins first in Belgian Champ jersey in Eneco stage 3

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Tom Boonen (Quick Step) won his first race as Belgian national champion at stage three of the  Eneco Tour in Hasselt, Belgium, Friday. He sprinted ahead of America'sTyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) and Italy's Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas).

Boonen found extra motivation today as the race was in his home region, he said to Sporza. "We rode by my parents, my birthplace, my home, my training area."

With a second place, Farrar kept his race leader's white jersey by 10 seconds ahead of Boonen. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia-HTC) is in third at 19 seconds, Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) is fourth at 25 seconds and Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) fifth at 27 seconds.

Farrar won the last two stages and finished second in the opening prologue Tuesday.

The win was Boonen's first ever in the black, yellow and red Belgian champion jersey and comes after an unsuccessful Tour de France. "I was not good enough," he said of the Tour. "The whole fuss nagged at me more than I thought it would.

"The four weeks of rest after the Tour were good for me. I still expect to have a bad day or two, but they will become fewer."

Today's stage started in Niel, north of Brussel, and traveled 158.3 kilometres to Hasselt. Farrar started the stage with a 13-second lead over Boasson Hagen and 14 seconds over Boonen.

The temperatures had dropped slightly for the start of the stage. Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) failed to start with the 154 riders, and Astana's Gregory Rast dropped out after only 22 kilometres.

An escape group formed at 39 kilometres into the stage. Frenchman Romain Villa (Cofidis), Dutchmen Niki Terpstra (Milram) and Albert Timmer (Skil-Shimano) quickly built up a lead.

Villa was the best-placed of the trio in overall classification, over six and a half minutes down on Farrar. The peloton was safe to let the trio gain some time. Still, the Garmin-led peloton wasn't going to let them get too far away, in hopes of a third mass sprint win for Farrar.

The gap was at its largest, nearly three minutes, with 67 kilometres to go. That was enough, Quick Step and Garmin picked up the pace to start reducing the time advantage.

The three had 35 seconds over the Garmin-led group with 20 kilometres remaining. It dropped by nine seconds with 15 kilometres remaining, on the passage of the finish line in Hasselt.

Aussie Mark Renshaw (Columbia-HTC) punctured and had to chase back as the pace rose. Teammate Michael Rogers had the same bad luck as Renshaw later, a rear puncture at nine kilometres left.

Timmer attacked with 12 kilometres left and dropped Villa. The Dutch duo pushed ahead for the stage win, 16 seconds at 10 kilometres to race. Three kilometres later, the duo's escape ended as Liquigas took charge of the race for its sprinter Chicchi.

Quick Step and Colombia over-powered Liquigas' train with two kilometres left. Caisse d'Epargne went to the front for its sprinter, José Joaquín Rojas, at the start of the last kilometre.

Boasson Hagen shot ahead of the sprint teams on the final right hand bend, near 600 metres remaining. The other sprinters brought him in and Boonen started his sprint early, holding off Farrar on his left.

Tomorrow's stage four takes the riders from Hasselt to Libramont, 221.2 kilometres.

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