And the cobbles season is off! And it's pretty equal to what it was like last season with Tom Boonen being the favourite for all the races. Next to him, we have Fabian Cancellara, Leif Hoste, Marcus Burghardt, Andreas Klier and several other well-known riders. So, let get this started!
3 riders decided to try their luck on the very first kilometres of this stage: the British Kennaugh of Virgin (who have invested in a new jersey, by the way), Feillu of the Continental team British Airways and Merckx of Eurosport. And naturally, they were also the first riders to hit the first cobble stones of this season.
The three riders never really got any huge advantage. Warner Bros seemed interested in keeping it all together for their main guy, Tom Boonen. That meant that the gap never got over 3'30 minutes, and with 100 km. to go, the escapees were 3'25 in front.
We did see some action at this point, though. On the 2nd cobble section, Marcus Burghardt, team leader of Festina, punctured. Luckily for him, the peloton was so strechted out at this point that it didn't have any consequences -- except for him ending up at the back of the P.
Anyway, time went by, and Warner Bros did everything they could in order to break the peloton apart on the steep, cobbled hills. Time after time, they were close, but whenever they reached the next hill they were caught again. They did succeed in catching the escapees, though, and Merckx even got a puncture right after he was caught, completely ruining any chance he might would have had Feillu kept on fighting for the precious tv-time, but with 55 km. to go, it was over for him too.
At this point, the fast pace started paying off as a group of 14 riders managed to finally break the peloton apart. In this group, we had Boonen and Hoste of the favourites, whereas Cancellara and Burghardt had been left in the group behind them.
On the next hill, with 42 km. to go, it seemed like we had formed the "leading group" consisting of 6 Carlsberg riders, 5 Warner Bros, a few Wikipedia, a few Domina and a a few Festina riders, including riders such ad Boonen, Hoste and Burghardt. Eisel from Carlsberg is also there with Cancellara and Hunter right behind them, fighting to get up.
On the 2nd last cobble stone part, Cancellara and co. got contact with the front group, although Hunter had to give up due to the great work he had done for Cancellara. This meant that we now had 23 riders in the front group before the last cobble section.
Right on the first metres of this section, the worst thing that could happen to Carlsberg happened - puncture of team leader Bernard Eisel.
Immediately, all Carlsberg-riders dropped back, and surprisingly they managed to get Eisel back despite the great pace up front. Warner Bros did everything they could to break it apart again, and they were partly succesful as they got a small gap after the last cobbled hill. Even Boonen was trying to keep this gap "open" along with his 4 team mates and Coyot of Erste.
And then, Boonen's move came. His team mates dropped back, and Boonen attacked with less than 20 km. to go. Question was if this was a tactical suicide, or just the easiest way to get the victory, considering the fact that other top sprinters such as Hushovd, Fischer, Eisel, etc. were right behind him?
One thing was for sure. Warner Bros were done.They didn't just drop back. They went right through the group, their day was over. Same goes for a lot of Carlsberg's riders who had done a great job in order to bring Eisel back to the front. And Boonen? he was still in front. With 10 km. to go, he had a gap of 51 seconds. At this point, the peloton is down to 18 riders, and for some reason, they couldn't bring magic man Tom Boonen back. He increased his lead meter for meter, and it soon became obvious that he would take the victory. But in the back, they were fighting for the next positions. Here we are at the start of the peloton sprint. It's Fischer leading, then Hushovd, Hoste, Deroo, Burghardt, Eisel, Van Impe and Cancellara.
But in front, Boonen has already taken the victory ahead of his fellow companions. He is the best, Boonen, and he will probably have this position for years to come.
In the breakaway group, it's still Fischer leading with Hushovd and Burghardt behind him. They are followed by Van Impe, Eisel, Hoste and Cancellara.
And Hushovd takes 2nd ahead of Eisel who had a great finishing sprint. Fourth is Burghardt, followed by Fischer, Van Impe, Cancellara, Duque, Hoste and Traksel on the following places.
Feillu kept on fighting for the precious tv-time, but with 55 km. to go, it was over for him too. 
