Race ReportThe hoped-for comeback of Tom Steels in this race did not eventuate because he informed officials that he was starting in the Tour of the Walloon Regions on Friday. There were 48 riders at the start with Adri Van der Poel the last rider to be introduced. In the first kms the Dane, Piil Storm attacked. Johan De Geyter, Hans De Meester, Jan Poppe and Ludo Dierickxsens responded. The 5 riders took a lead of around 3 minutes. For Dierickxsens there was not enough speed. He lifted the tempo and only De Geyter could follow him. For half the race there were now 2 learders who had almost a 3 minute gap on the peloton.The pace of the two riders, Dierickxsens-De Geyter however could not be sustained. The hard work of the combination of the Asfra and Ipso teams brought the race back together with about 40 kms to go. There was another large attack from Van Malderghem, Van der Poel, Vandaele and Piil Storm but at the end the race came down to a mass sprint finish. It was a very close finish with Van Haesebroucke pipping Van der Poel. The rider from Avelgem turned 27 yesterday. "My whole team has all won here today. I am the luckiest rider in this land" said Van Haesebroucke. Van der Poel was not under any pressure. "For me the winter is the most important." said Van der Poel. Yesterday, (July 31) he came first in the Acht van Chaam but he is focusing on the coming Cyclo Cross season and the World Championship. Race distance - 154 kms:1. Franky Van Haesebroucke (Avelgem) 3.31.00 2. Adri van der Poel (Ned) 3. Jan Hordijk (Ned) 4. Andy De Smet 5. Ronny Assez 6. Mario Moermans 7. Oleg Pankov (Uzb) 8. Mario De Clercq 9. Niels van der Steen (Ned) 10. Masahiko Mifune (Jap) 11. Marco Engels (Ned) 12. Raymond Meijs (Ned) 13. Brian Dalgaard (Den) 14. Bart Heirewegh 15. Steven Van Malderghem 16. Ludo Dierckxens 17. Gino Verheyden 18. Danny Daelman 19. Pedro Rubrecht 20. Soren Petersen (Den) 21. Johan Verstrepen 22. Rik Van Slijcke 23. Gert Vanderaerden 24. Christ Hendryckx 25. Patrick De Wael 26. Tony Bracke 27. Peter Spaenhoven 49 starters Belgian unless noted |