Kittel beats Cavendish to win Scheldeprijs

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Marcel Kittel (Etixx Quickstep) won his fourth Scheldeprijs title on Wednesday after a sprint finish against Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data).

The German led out the sprint with Cavendish waiting until the final 100 meters before trying to counter. Despite a valiant effort from the British rider, Kittel was able to hold on and take the win. Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) finished third.

Kittel’s win puts him ahead of Cavendish in the all-time record books with the German on four wins in Scheldeprijs and Cavendish stuck on three.

“The team did a super job to get me in the right position. It was a good fight with Mark,” Kittel said at the finish. 

“I said before the race that I'm not here to make history, I'm racing for joy, for pleasure, just riding my bike. It's even better if I could get the record here for the wins in the Scheldeprijs. I like this race. Sometimes it's not easy, like today. You normally always have the best sprinters here, and it's great to win.”

Kittel, of course, replaced Cavendish at Etixx over the winter with the British rider moving to Dimension Data. Such sub-plots mattered little today, with the win the only objective for both riders. They of weren’t the only contenders who lined up in Antwerp with Greipel, Elia Viviani (Team Sky), and defending champion Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) all potential winners.

The riders lined up in the shadow of the MAS Pavilion museum in the renovated Antwerp docks, using the modern building to protect them from the cold western wind that was blowing across northern Belgium.

Fabian Cancellara (Trek Segafredo) chatted calmly with Germany’s Robert Wagner (LottoNL-Jumbo), while Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) avoided the clamour of the Belgian cycling fans by quickly signing on and then only returning to the start area after the first riders rolled away for the 208km race.

With the grey skies gathering, none of the 162 starters were in the mood to race hard from the start. The early break of the day formed soon after the official race start in Schoten. In it were Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Sander Helven (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Berden De Vries (Roompot), French national champion Steven Tronet (Fortuneo-Vital Concept), Nico Denz (AG2R La Mondiale) and Tomasz Kiendys (CCC Sprandi Polkowice). Other riders tried to go across but were quickly controlled before the peloton allowed the six to open a lead of three minutes.

The gap rose to five minutes after 45 kilometers of racing, with a tailwind helping the break as they headed north, despite rain beginning to fall. After a 100km the gap was down to three minutes as the different sprinters’ team put a rider on the front of the peloton to help the chase. The peloton split into several groups after 150km of racing, with Sagan caught behind but the rainbow jersey was soon back up front with some help from two teammates.

The break ran out of steam as the race approached the finish area. Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) jumped away alone and was then joined by Brian Van Goethem (Rompoot). They got the first cheer from the crowd but never opened a huge advantage. Belgian national champion Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Sebastien Turgot (AG2R La Mondiale) tried to go across, but with the likes of Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) helping with the chase, they were quickly pulled back.

The rain started to come down hard with 40km left to race and this sparked the early retirement of Ian Stannard (Team Sky) who preferred to save himself for Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix. Other riders preferred to stay on or near the front to avoid possible crashes but the riders seemed to respect each others' safety as the circuit twisted around the country roads east of Antwerp.

The wind added an extra factor to the race, with the peloton lined out as the speed increased. Dimension Data rode carefully to protect Cavendish and the hint of an echelon saw several riders go out the back. Boonen ensured he was well placed but after dropping off young teammate Erik Baska, Sagan sat up and slipped out of the race via the back door, preferring to avoid any risks before Paris-Roubaix.

Dimension Data continued to lead the race as the last lap approached with Matt Brammeier on the front for the African team before Lotto Soudal and Etixx-Quickstep also moved up. The pace was not yet high as the bell rang for the start of the final 18.6km lap around Schoten.

With the race approaching the final 10 kilometers Etixx, Lotto Soudal and Dimension Data vied for control but it wasn’t until the final 3km that Kittel’s team began to dominate. Tyler Farrar, who had helped Cavendish position himself on Kittel’s back wheel – almost a victory in itself given the effort it required – peeled off, leaving Kittel, Cavendish and Greipel as the three best positioned sprinters.

Kittel led the sprint out, and it quickly became apparent that Griepel lacked the freshness in his legs to compete. Cavendish had hung on, and he opted to come around Kittel’s right. He was pulling level as the line approached but Kittel had more in the tank and one last push for the line saw the Etixx rider come out on top.

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