E-3 Harelbeke

E3 – Prijs Vlaanderen Harelbeke, 203km/126mi
By Cathy Mehl

It’s time for Belgium racing at its finest!  Today’s opener of E3 -  Prijs Harelbeke set the tone for the next week:  fast racing, cobbles and hellingens and plenty of attacks.   Coming to the line in a breakaway of three, Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) left Belgian champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and Sky’s Juan Antonio Flecha with 2km to go and time trialed his way to the victory.  A chasing group arrived almost one minute later.

Team RadioShack’s Sébastien Rosseler spent much of the day in a breakaway that started at 24 and selected down to 4 riders, but approaching the final 50km he was dropped, his forces gone for the day.   Team Director Dirk Demol said, “Rosseler was again soooo strong.  He was the best rider in the breakaway and did most of the work.  He did too much work but I couldn’t get him to back off."

The Team line-up for the next races:


Critérium International (Fra), March 27-28, 2010

Riders: Lance Armstrong, Matthew Busche, Ben Hermans, Chris Horner, Tiago Machado, Sérgio Paulinho, Yaroslav Popovych & Ivan RovnyDirectors: Johan Bruyneel & Alain Gallopin


E3-Prijs Harelbeke (Bel), March 27, 2010
Riders: Fumiyuki Beppu, Markel Irizar, Geoffroy Lequatre, Fuyu Li, Dmitriy Muravyev, Gregory Rast & Sébastien RosselerDirector: Dirk Demol


Gent-Wevelgem (Bel), March 28, 2010

Riders: Fumiyuki Beppu, Markel Irizar, Geoffroy Lequatre, Fuyu Li, Dmitriy Muravyev, Gregory Rast & Sébastien Rosseler
Director: Dirk Demol