Bos prevails at Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen

Four days after winning the final stage of the inaugural World Ports Classic, Theo Bos (Rabobank) once again crossed the finish line first, this time in today's 194.9km Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen. The 29-year-old Dutchman's finishing kick was too much for defending champion Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil-DCM), who had to settle for second. Rounding out the top three was Bos's teammate and lead-out rider extraordinaire Mark Renshaw followed by André Greipel (Lotto Belisol Team) in fourth.

"Finishing first and third, you can only be happy," said Nico Verhoeven, Rabobank directeur sportif. "But I am also happy with the way it happened. Mark led out the sprint for Theo and still finished third himself, behind Kenny van Hummel but ahead of André Greipel. This is really considered a sprint race, and if you end up winning with your sprinter and the team did everything according to the book, you obviously go home with a very good feeling."

After just 20km of racing four riders escaped from the peloton to form the day's early break. Kurt Hovelynck (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), Quentin Bertholet (Wallonie Bruxelles-Credit Agricole), Olivier Pardini (Colba-Superano Ham) and Jeroen Lepla (Bofrost-Steria) extended their advantage to a maximum of 5:30 and still enjoyed a lead of 3:30 when they arrived at the first of six 8.4km finishing circuits in Aartselaar.

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Rabobank and Argos-Shimano were prominent at the head of the peloton, leading the pursuit of the escapees and hoping to set up their sprinters. Approximately 20km from the finish the break's horsepower was cut in half as both Bertholet and Pardini were unable to keep the pace. Hovelynck and Lepla continued onwards, but were caught near the end of the penultimate finishing circuit with 10km remaining. The sprinters' teams kept the peloton together through to the finale with Bos proving too quick for his rival fast men at the finish.