Saxo Bank rider Fabian Cancellara ended Switzerland’s long wait for victory in the Tour of Flanders one-day classic on Sunday with a superb solo attack 15km from the finish.
Belgium’s two-time winner Tom Boonen, of Quick Step, finished runner-up in the 261.5km epic at over a minute behind after being dropped on the steep pitches of the Grammont, the race’s penultimate cobbled climb.
Cancellara is only the second Swiss rider to win the biggest one-day race in the Flemish speaking part of Belgium after Henry Suter in 1923.
“When you win a race like Flanders, it’s history you’re making,” said the Swiss, who had time to pay tribute to his watching family by brandishing an Easter Sunday trinket to the television cameras 3km from the line.
Once again the 29-year-old showed that, apart from the major Tours and the toughest of the one-week stage races, there could be no limit to his winning potential.
The Olympic time trial champion and Boonen, the 2005 world road race champion, had the race virtually sewn up as they raced side by side with less than 20km to go and several pelotons well adrift in their wake.
However, Boonen’s reputation for being a faster sprinter condemned Cancellara into attacking before they made it to the home straight.
Early on the Grammont Cancellara looked to be feigning a brief bout of fatigue, only to hammer past Boonen. As Cancellara powered ahead sitting in the saddle, a dancing Boonen looked to be on the limit.
Cancellara’s time trial skills did the rest and soon had him well in front with only one climb, the Bosberg, to negotiate.
“With 3km to go, I knew the victory was in the bag,” said Cancellara, the reigning Swiss champion, who is known to his rivals as “Spartacus” for his gladiator-like style on the bike.
Boonen, 29, fought valiantly but his deficit grew steadily and with only 4km to race he was already a minute behind.
He came over the finish line 1 minute 15 seconds in arrears to claim his second successive runner-up place in a one-day classic after he was beaten to victory in Milan-San Remo by Spaniard Oscar Freire two weeks ago.
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