G-W

Gent-Wevelgem
201km/125mi
By Cathy Mehl

Bring on the cobbles!  This week-end kicked off racing in Belgium with the cobbled Classic Gent-Wevelgem on tap for Team RadioShack riders.  Belgian Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) showed plenty of strength in a long sprint to take his second career win in this important Classic.  On Sunday the former Belgian national champion outsprinted Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek) and American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo). Although Team RadioShack had strong legs throughout the race, a series of mishaps kept the riders from being in true contention.

Gent Wevelgem, 219km/130mi
By Cathy Mehl
Coming to the line in a six-man group, Austrian Bernhard Eisel (HTC-Columbia) jumped off the wheel of former teammate George Hincapie (BMC) to take the win in Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday.   Hincapie looked strong on the run to the line, but when he revved up at 300m to go it was too soon for the USA national champion to hold all the way.  Former teammate Eisel saw his chance, coming around Hincapie at 200m and holding off Sep Vanmarke (Topsport-Vlaanderen) and Philippe Gilbert of Omega Pharma-Lotto.  Hincapie held on for fourth.  Historically known for the challenging course with wind usually a factor, Eisel noted that in nine starts this was only his second time to complete the race.

Team RadioShack endured a day of crashes with half of the team riders suffering mishaps sometime during the race, some more than once on the day.  Top ‘honors’ go to Markel Irizar who went down three times along with Fumy Beppu who hit the deck twice.  Both were unable to finish.  Gregy Rast, Fuyu Li and Sébastien Rosseler also suffered crashes during the race.  Of 194 starters only 49 arrived within the time limit.  Sixty-nine arrived outside the limit and 76 abandoned the race.