Nys, Vandewalle, Joseph and Devenyns were the break
Their gap was falling by 70km to go, Brandt and Cornu went on the attack. Verbist, Vansummeren and De Gendt also attacked but were not as strong
They were caught and there were more attacks. Scherilinckx bridges up to the 2 remaining breakaway riders Nys and Devennyns, while Hoste and Coenen also have a gap
It all came back together until Nick Nuyens attacked with 20km to go
Devolder and Hoste followed although earlier efforts meant Hoste could not keep up with them
This could be the move! It looks very promising
Yes, they will stay away but who will win? Devolder led the sprint
Nuyens makes his move inside the final kilometre
And Nick Nuyens has become the Belgian national champion!
Gert Steegmans outsprinted Tom Boonen to take 3rd
1
Nick Nuyens
DOMINA VACANZE
6h12'50
2
Stijn Devolder
FRANCE TELEVISIONS
s.t.
3
Gert Steegmans
PHILIPS - HUMMEL
+ 1'03
4
Tom Boonen
WARNER BROTHERS
s.t.
5
Ben Hermans
WIKIPEDIA
+ 1'29
6
Staf Scheirlinckx
WIKIPEDIA
s.t.
7
Dimitri Claeys
DOMINA VACANZE
s.t.
8
Nikolas Maes
WIKIPEDIA
s.t.
9
Leif Hoste
WIKIPEDIA
+ 2'08
10
Steven Caethoven
WHITE BEAR STEYR
s.t.
11
Nico Sijmens
ACCUMALUX - FORMEX
+ 2'42
12
Philippe Gilbert
MAPEI
s.t.
13
Kenny De Ketele
AMERICAN SUZUKI
s.t.
14
Greg Van Avermaet
MOLTENI
s.t.
15
Jurgen Vandenbroeck
MOLTENI
s.t.
16
Johan Coenen
NINTENDO - HONDA
s.t.
17
Björn Leukemans
CHAMPION
s.t.
18
Johan Vansummeren
ERNST & YOUNG
s.t.
19
Andy Cappelle
MOLTENI
s.t.
20
Jonas Vangenechten
LA/MSS/PEARL JAM
s.t.
21
Maxime Monfort
AMERICAN SUZUKI
s.t.
22
Christophe Brandt
NINTENDO - HONDA
s.t.
23
Bert De Waele
MOLTENI
s.t.
24
Kevin Ista
WIKIPEDIA
s.t.
25
Axel Merckx
EUROSPORT
s.t.
26
Jurgen Van Goolen
FESTINA
s.t.
27
Pieter Vanspeybrouck
CARLSBERG
s.t.
28
Dominique Cornu
CARLSBERG
s.t.
29
Frederik Willems
WIKIPEDIA
s.t.
30
Francis De Greef
MOLTENI
s.t.
31
Frederik Nolf
FESTINA
s.t.
32
Kevin Van Impe
WARNER BROTHERS
s.t.
33
Wouter Weylandt
WARNER BROTHERS
s.t.
34
Mario Aerts
NINTENDO - HONDA
s.t.
35
Jelle Vanendert
DOMINA VACANZE
s.t.
36
Wim Van Huffel
LA/MSS/PEARL JAM
s.t.
37
Bart Wellens
NINTENDO - HONDA
s.t.
38
Jürgen Van de Walle
EUROSPORT
s.t.
39
Kevin Seeldraeyers
WARNER BROTHERS
s.t.
40
Lars Croket
WHITE BEAR STEYR
s.t.
41
Tom Stubbe
WIKIPEDIA
s.t.
42
Thomas De Gendt
B&O
+ 4'54
43
Sébastien Rosseler
WARNER BROTHERS
+ 5'35
44
Rik Verbrugghe
FRANCE TELEVISIONS
s.t.
45
Jérome Giaux
MAPEI
+ 6'15
46
Sven Nys
WIKIPEDIA
+ 7'32
47
Dries Devenyns
AMERICAN SUZUKI
+ 7'56
48
Gert Dockx
MAPEI
+ 8'43
49
Kevin Hulsmans
WARNER BROTHERS
s.t.
50
Evert Verbist
DOMINA VACANZE
+ 9'07
51
Jan Ghyselinck
FRANCE TELEVISIONS
+ 9'29
52
Stijn Joseph
LA/MSS/PEARL JAM
+ 11'19
53
Kristof Vandewalle
MAPEI
+ 14'07
54
Maxime Vantomme
PHILIPS - HUMMEL
+ 15'43
55
Kobe Vanoverschelde
B&O
s.t.
56
Michael Vanderaerden
CHAMPION
s.t.
57
Olivier Kaisen
WIGGLE - PREMIER INN
+ 16'25
58
Kristof Goddaert
FESTINA
s.t.
59
Ben Curfs
AMERICAN SUZUKI
s.t.
60
Geert Omloop
EUROSPORT
s.t.
61
Sander Cordeel
WHITE BEAR STEYR
s.t.
62
Roy Sentjens
MAGENTA ALL-STARS
+ 17'49
63
Wim De Vocht
MAGENTA ALL-STARS
s.t.
64
Wilfried Cretskens
WARNER BROTHERS
s.t.
65
Dimitri De Fauw
AMERICAN SUZUKI
+ 18'47
66
Jurgen Van Loocke
MAGENTA ALL-STARS
+ 20'42
67
Jude Libert
MAPEI
+ 23'52
68
Bert Roesems
MAGENTA ALL-STARS
s.t.
TT
Sebastien Rosseler was the first to set a strong time
He was beaten by Kristof Vandewalle (No picture), but not by Stijn Devolder
Defending champ Cornu stormed into the lead
Two of the other favourites struggled. Leif Hoste barely scraped into the top 10, while De Gendt took 12th. Cornu is the winner!