Burghardt took round 1 - will Boonen and the others bounce back? And although Blythe (no wildcard) and Klier (not selected) are absent here, we do have the presence of Fabian Cancellara who for some reason chose to skip Eroica.
The weather today is wet. Ulissi punctured first, Elijzen and Mangel went down together as the first crashes, but no attacks as we go into the first of the cobbles
Matti Breschel is the first to do something interesting, attacking with 95km to go
He is allowed to build a gap and hold 3 and a half minutes with 66km to go
Theres drama as the peleton reach that climb though as theres a crash! And its Hushovd!
3 of the weaker Festina teammates drop back but Hushovd rides right past them into the back of the pack leaving the other 3 for a race of suffering
Speaking of suffering, there are a number of crashes going over the top of the hill - Vantomme, Van Goolen, Willems, and Vandewalle
And if that wasnt enough for just 1 climb - theres some huge splits emerging!
Warner Bros, Unicef and Wikipedia are on the front, meaning Boonen, Cancellara and Burghardt must be there - with Ballan, Gusev and Nuyens also visible within the group
Chasing them is a group containing Veelers, Thomas, Langeveld and Boom
We then have a group with Flecha and Nolf in it, being chased by the Rabobank led group containing Steegmans
And then after them it is Hushovd, isolated amongst others alongside Accumalux and La Gazetta riders. And as Eroica showed, those 2 teams are hardly renowned for their skills on the pave
The pressure continues to be applied, the riders are stretched out a long way - and Hushovds group isnt even in view on this shot
Coyot and Baugnies hit the front, showing that they are in this lead group of the peleton, with Nuyens, Ballan, Boonen, Flecha and Cancellara up near the front
Now we have the chasegroup - Veelers, Steegmans, Langeveld, Thomas and Nolf can be spotted
Hushovd? Already 5 minutes behind the group currently led by the Lipton pair. He isnt going to be getting any closer than that either
But lets not forget Matti Breschel. still leading solo with around a 1'45 gap on the lead chase group of 21 riders, 46km to go
21 is about to become 11, Ballan, Flecha, Cancellara, Nuyens, Boonen, Van Impe, Baugnies, Burghardt, Gusev, Maes, Coyot
The other 10 are all teammates of those in the front group and all, bar Lhotellerie (who stays in between), drop back slowly to the 24 riders chasing them
Ballan is again leading the way with 37km to go as 11 becomes 7 - Baugnies, Coyot, Maes and Van Impe have been gapped, with Gusev just managing to cling on to Ballan's group
A few kilometres later and they have caught Breschel
But at the same time Gusev is dropped, with Breschel also unable to keep up. Not a great kilometre for Philips
Further back we see Jacobs, Nolf, Verbist and Thomas attacking their 28 man group in a search to salvage something
As up front Baugnies has recovered and is looking to fight back to the leading group, passing Breschel and joining Gusev
With Veelers and Steegmans now attacking to salvage, they catch Verbist and Thomas first but are looking to link up with Nolf, Jacobs and Lhotellerie
Up front and Baugnies' hopes of rejoining seem to be gone as the 6 riders work well together, waiting to see who dares to make the first move
Theres a blow to Geraint Thomas now, he punctures
Here's the situation with 20km to go, in nice picture form so I dont have to write it all out
Cancellara attacks!
He leads by 40 seconds with 10km to go
Boonen, Burghardt and Ballan appear to be dropping Nuyens and Flecha
Baugnies has left behind Gusev, with Maes still in pursuit while Nolf and Jacobs have caught Coyot - Jacobs now attacking in a bid to take 10th place
Nuyens and Flecha rejoin the other 3 but here we go! Boonen attacks, Burghardt counters
Just like in Eroica, Boonen and Burghardt have attacked together and caught the solo leader, this time Cancellara. With 5.5km to go, they have a minutes gap on Ballan, Nuyens and Flecha
But as they move back to mind games, a determined Ballan halves that gap in just 2km
Its still going to be decided by the front 3 though, as Burghardt decides to lead off this time and does have a little gap
Cancellara is slow to respond and already losing ground on Boonen
Boonen catches Burghardt
No mistakes this time as he charges into the lead
Tom Boonen wins Omloop Het Volk!
2nd this time for Burghardt, with Cancellara out of contention and having to settle for 3rd. Ballan put a lot of effort into trying to catch them and couldnt stop Nuyens sneaking past on the line to take 4th
Baugnies is 7th ahead of Gusev, then Maes
Crash! Not again - Steegmans is down in the closing stages. This time colliding with Lhotellerie while also riding with Breschel and Verbist
Jacobs comes through to round out the Top 10
While Steegmans picks himself up and will take 17th, 'only' losing the opportunity for 15th place following this crash. Lhotellerie is less fortunate and caught by the chasing group, passed by Thomas and Drucker before crossing the line
