Brief:"My birthday, this morning I signe with Lotto, and today I win the race. What more could you want of the best day of my life." was the first reaction of Koen Beeckman after his second win for the season. "In the following group there were several of my team mates. I am benefitting from the work I have been doing. Paris-Brussel is now an aim. And my future team leader Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke was very pleased."The race did not have much life. There was a hundred km breakaway by Jan Poppe and the Russian Khamdline. The two riders built up a maximum break of 3.30. Under pressure from Lotto the race came back together again. Soon after Sebastian Demarbaix attacked. Beeckman reacted quickly. 3 kms from the end Beeckman attacked and was never caught. Demarbaix hung on to second place. Geraardsbergen, 156 kms:1. Koen Beeckman (Bel) Ipso 3.54.00 2. Sebastien Demarbaix (Bel) Home Market-Charleroi 0.07 3. Pauly Burke (USA) 0.42 4. Wim Feys (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 0.45 5. Michel Vanhaecke (Bel) Ipso 6. Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 7. Tom Desmet (Bel) Collstrop 0.52 8. Karel Vereecke (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 1.00 9. Fabien De Waele (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 1.47 10. Jarno Vanfrachem (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 11. Jean-Denis Vandenbroucke (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 12. Christ Hendryckx (Bel) Home Market-Charleroi 13. Casper van der Meer (Ned) 14. Scott Guyton (NZ) Ipso 15. Philip Vereecke (Bel) Collstrop 16. Michel Willems (Bel) 17. Andy De Smet (Bel) Ipso 18. Oleg Pankov (Ukr) Ipso 19. Tony Bracke (Bel) Collstrop 20. Steven Van Aken (Bel) 21. Davy Delme (Bel) Tonissteiner 22. Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 23. Marnix Van Impe (Bel) Elite 24. Peter Farazijn (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 25. Paul Wilkes (GB) Elite 26. Dimitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Elite 27. Geert Verheyen (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 28. Bart Everaert (Bel) Elite 29. Gregory Schoelens (Bel) Home Market-Charleroi 30. Peter Kets (Bel) Elite 1.47 Started: 70 |