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Belgium rider Danny Baeyens won his first professional race in the
Ruddervoorde.
The East Flemish rider from Herzele won the amateur Paris-Roubaix last year.
He rode a perfect race. With 40 kms to go there was an 18 strong leading group.
With 30 kms to go, Baeyens and De Buyst attacked from the top group. Van
Slycke,
Spaenhoven and Andy De Smet reacted with Moermans on their wheel.
The leading two however rode clear. In the sprint, Baeyen won easily. Danny was physically fresh and mentally down to earth after his first pro win. "In the Route du Sud I had troubles but today I plucked the fruit. We rode 120 kms in a line. This is my first win in my first pro season. It did not come without a great amount of work." De Buyst, was fourth last Saturday in the Ardense Pijl but in Ruddervoorde in the finale he did his best but was beaten by a half length. Twelve seconds later came Pankov, faster than Moermans, Beeckman and Van Slycke. Race Distance - 161 kms:1. Danny Baeyens (Belgium) 3.32.00 2. Franky De Buyst (Belgium) 3. Olef Bankov (Let) 0.12 4. Mario Moermans (Belgium) 5. Koen Beeckman (Belgium) 6. Rik Van Slijcke (Belgium) 0.20 7. Anthony Rokia (Fra) 0.47 8. Eric De Clercq (Belgium) 1.13 9. Vital Timmermans (Ned) 1O. Patrick De Wael (Belgium) 1.18 11. Matthew Gilmore (Australia) 1.47 12. Andy De Smet (Belgium) 13. Peter Spaenhoven (Belgium) 14. Michel Nottebart (Belgium) 15. Geert Omloop (Belgium) 16. Masahiko Mifune (Jap) 17. Ronny Assez (Belgium) 4.33 18. Peter Verbeken (Belgium) 4.4O 19. Grigory Schoelens (Belgium) 2O. Willy Willems (Belgium) 21. Matthew Allan (Australia) 22. Louis de Koning (Ned) 23. Romio Hernandez (Belgium) 24. Thierry Marichal (Belgium) 25. Ken Hashikawa (Jap) 26. Pedro Rubrecht (Belgium) 27. Christ Hendryckx (Belgium) 28. Marc Janssens (Belgium) 29. Gino Verheyden (Belgium) 3O. Marco Engels (Ned) all s.t. 55 Starters |