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64th Nokere Koerse - 1.1
Belgium, March 18, 2009
2008 Results Results Past winners
Brown sprints to win over cobbles
By Bjorn Haake
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Graeme Brown (Rabobank) won the sprint on the cobbled Nokereberg ahead of Ben Swift (Katusha) and Sébastien Chavanel (Française des Jeux) to make it a non-Belgian podium. In the final left hand turn, a crash decimated the number of contenders.
Brown was unaffected by the crash and sprinted to a clear victory on a sunny day in Belgium. Several attacks in the final kilometres, including one by Frank Vandenbroucke (Cinelli - Down Under) were reeled in by the sprinters's teams, notably Française des Jeux and Quick Step. Vacansoleil led the peloton in the final kilometre, which culminated on the cobbled climb of the Nokereberg.
The race consisted of 13 laps of 15km each.
A three-man break quickly built a lead, but Kenny van Braeckel (Revor - Jartazi Cycling Team), Andreas Schillinger (Nutrixxion-Sparkasse) and Ronan van Zandbeek (Van Vliet - EBH - Elshof) were caught with just over 100km to go.
A few counter attacks followed before Thomas de Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) was able to get away. With 90km to go, a group of 11 riders went in pursuit, including Silence-Lotto and Quick Step.
They quickly caught De Gendt, making it a dozen front runners: De Gendt, Dario Cataldo (Quick Step), Tom Stubbe (Silence-Lotto), David Boucher (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago), Geert van der Sanden (Cycling Team Jo Piels), James Vanlandschoot (Verandas Willems), René Joergensen (Designa Køkken), Lars Wackernagel (Nutrixxion-Sparkasse), Paidi O'Brien (An Post - Sean Kelly Team), Niels Scheuneman (KrolstonE Continental Team) and Arjen de Baat and Joost van Leijen of the Van Vliet - EBH - Elshof squad.
The lead went to a minute in no time, but several teams missed the move, including Rabobank, Skil-Shimano, Katusha and Française des Jeux. The latter was no surprise, as the French team started with only five riders. But its captain, Sébastien Chavanel, saw himself as one of the favourites before the race. "I think so. I had some trouble with my back in Paris-Nice and I had to abandon, but it is all good now."
With 75km to go the gap was still at 42 seconds, but the work of Rabobank and Skil-Shimano ended the escape with 67km to go. Only Cataldo and Van Der Sanden didn't agree and immediately countered. The duo came to the Nokereberg the next time around with 38 seconds (four laps to go).
The duo was caught with 54km to go. A flurry of attacks followed, keeping the pace. It wasn't until 27km to go when 12 riders went away with a sizeable gap. This time most of the big teams were represented – except for Quick Step. That caused a furious chase by the team of defending champion Wouter Weylandt. They were helped by Vancansoleil and Elk Haus to extinguish the break with 22km to go.
With 21km to go it was Frank Vandenbroucke (Cinelli - Down Under) who attacked, pushing an enormous gear. Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil), Kenny Van Der Schueren (Palmans - Cras) and Paul Sneeboer (KrolstonE) chased after him, but the gap never went past much more than half a dozen seconds.
A more promising move came with a little more than a lap to go, including 2006 winner Bert Roesems. The move also contained also Tom Leezer (Rabobank), Koen Barbé (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago), Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil), Ben Hermans (Topsport Vlaanderen), Jan Valach (Elk Haus) and Dieter Capelle (Palmans - Cras)
Rabobank then controlled attacks from the back, giving the leaders a gap of 15 seconds with 12km to go. Française des Jeux and Quick Step did most of the work in the peloton to reel the break back in with 10km to go. FdJ and Quick Step kept the pressure on to discourage any other break attempts, setting up the bunch sprint.
Results - 192.9 km
1 Graeme Browne (Aus) Rabobank 4.22.00 (44.176 km/h) 2 Ben Swift (GBr) Katusha 3 Sebastien Chavanel (Fra) Francaise des Jeux 4 Bjorn Coomans (Bel) Palmans - Cras 5 Denis Galimzyanov (Kaz) Katusha 6 Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Katusha 7 Dennis Pohl (Ger) Team Kuota - Indeland 8 Michael Reihs (Den) Designa Křkken 9 Alexei Markov (Rus) Katusha 10 Niko Eeckhout (Bel) An Post - Sean Kelly Team 11 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 12 Jonas Vangenechten (Bel) Verandas Willems 13 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Silence-Lotto 14 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Verandas Willems 15 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Palmans - Cras 16 Erki Pütsep (Est) Cycling Club Bourgas 17 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Quickstep 18 Cyrille Heymans (Lux) Team Differdange 19 Roy Sentjens (Bel) Silence-Lotto 20 Joeri Calleeuw (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen - Bauknecht jvb 21 Steve Schets (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen - Bauknecht jvb 22 Stefan Ganser (Ger) Team Kuota - Indeland 23 Maint Berkenbosch (Ned) Cycling team Jo Piels 24 Stijn Hoornaert (Bel) Palmans - Cras 25 Normunds Lasis (Lat) Cycling Club Bourgas 26 Harald Starzengruber (Aut) Elk Haus 27 Rene Obst (Ger) Team Nutrixxion-Sparkasse 28 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quickstep 29 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Silence-Lotto 0.12 30 Bert De Backer (Bel) Skil - Shimano 31 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cyclingteam 32 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 33 Arjen De Baat (Ned) Van Vliet - EBH - Elshof 34 Zakkali Dempster (Aus) Cycling Club Bourgas 0.24 35 Frank Dressler (Ger) Team Differdange 36 Matt Brammeier (GBr) An Post - Sean Kelly Team 37 Jaryd De Mooij (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen - Bauknecht jvb 38 Gennady Mikhaylov (Rus) Katusha 39 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 40 Kenny Van Der Schueren (Bel) Palmans - Cras 41 Aurelien Duval (Fra) Francaise des Jeux 42 Matthias Brandle (Swi) Elk Haus 43 Bas Giling (Ned) Designa Křkken 44 René Joergensen (Den) Designa Křkken 45 Fulco Van Gulik (Ned) KrolstonE Continental Team 46 Hubert Schwab (Swi) Quickstep 47 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet 48 Kenny Lisabeth (Bel) An Post - Sean Kelly Team 49 Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) Cinelli - Down Under 50 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet 51 Kenny Van Braeckel (Bel) Revor - Jartazi Cycling Team 52 David Deroo (Fra) Skil - Shimano 53 Steve Houanard (Fra) Skil - Shimano 54 Marcel Fischer (Ger) Team Nutrixxion-Sparkasse 55 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Francaise des Jeux 56 Gerrit Soepenberg (Ned) KrolstonE Continental Team 57 Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Silence-Lotto 58 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Palmans - Cras 59 Dieter Cappelle (Bel) Palmans - Cras 60 Mart Ojavee (Est) Cycling Club Bourgas 61 Bart Dockx (Bel) Silence-Lotto 62 Marc Hester (Den) Designa Křkken 63 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Revor - Jartazi Cycling Team 64 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) Landbouwkrediet 65 Mathieu Criquielion (Bel) Verandas Willems 66 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cyclingteam 67 Tommy Nankervis (Aus) Cinelli - Down Under 68 Gregory Joseph (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen - Bauknecht jvb 69 Nicholas Walker (Aus) Cinelli - Down Under 70 Robin Chaigneau (Ned) Cycling team Jo Piels 71 Sep VanMarcke (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen - Bauknecht jvb 72 Stefan Rucker (Aut) Elk Haus 73 Johan Coenen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 74 Jerome Baugnies (Bel) Josan - Isorex - Mercedes-Benz Aalst 75 Ken Vanmarcke (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen - Bauknecht jvb 76 Mindaugas Striska (Ltu) Revor - Jartazi Cycling Team 77 Paidi O'Brien (Irl) An Post - Sean Kelly Team 78 Michael Kurth (Ger) Team Kuota - Indeland 79 Alexander Gottfried (Ger) Team Kuota - Indeland 80 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank 81 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Rabobank 82 Yohan Cauquil (Fra) Cycling Club Bourgas 83 Michiel Elijzen (Bel) Silence-Lotto 84 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quickstep 85 Nicolas Baldo (Fra) Team Differdange 86 Quincy Vens (Bel) Revor - Jartazi Cycling Team 87 Francis De Greef (Bel) Silence-Lotto 88 Bart De Roeck (Bel) Josan - Isorex - Mercedes-Benz Aalst 89 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) Cycling Club Bourgas 90 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil Pro Cyclingteam 91 Martin Mortensen (Den) Vacansoleil Pro Cyclingteam 92 Geert Omloop (Bel) Palmans - Cras 93 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Francaise des Jeux 94 Matthé Pronk (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cyclingteam 95 Gerben Lowik (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cyclingteam 96 Steven De Neef (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen - Bauknecht jvb 97 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Elk Haus 98 Tom Relou (Ned) Cycling team Jo Piels 99 Emmanuel Van Ruitenbeek (Ned) Team Kuota - Indeland 100 Jean Zen (Fra) Palmans - Cras 101 Bjorn Thurau (Ger) Elk Haus 102 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 103 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank 104 Jelle Posthuma (Ned) Cycling team Jo Piels 105 Reinier Honig (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cyclingteam 106 Robert Retschke (Ger) Team Differdange 107 Mario Ickx (Bel) Josan - Isorex - Mercedes-Benz Aalst 108 Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank 109 Thomas Vedel Kvist (Den) Quickstep 110 Olivier Maes (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen - Bauknecht jvb 111 Dirk Finders (Ger) Josan - Isorex - Mercedes-Benz Aalst 112 Bert Roesems (Bel) Cinelli - Down Under 113 Michaël Blanchy (Bel) Revor - Jartazi Cycling Team 114 Cornelius Van Ooijen (Ned) Cycling team Jo Piels 115 Jochen Summer (Aut) Elk Haus 116 Philip Meirhaeghe (Bel) Landbouwkrediet 117 Francis Mourey (Fra) Francaise des Jeux 118 Romain Zingle (Bel) Verandas Willems 119 Yukihiro Doi Jap Skil - Shimano 120 Florenz Knauer (Ger) Team Kuota - Indeland 121 Allan Johansen (Den) Designa Křkken 122 Peter Ronsse (Bel) Cinelli - Down Under 123 Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Nutrixxion-Sparkasse 124 Addy Engels (Ned) Quickstep 125 Ronan Van Zandbeek (Ned) Van Vliet - EBH - Elshof 126 Lars Jun (Ned) Van Vliet - EBH - Elshof 127 Jan Valach (Svk) Elk Haus 128 Hakan Nilsson (Swe) Team Differdange 129 Ben Hermans (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 130 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Katusha 131 Kenny De Haes (Bel) Katusha 132 Rikke Dijkxhoorn (Ned) Van Vliet - EBH - Elshof 133 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Team Nutrixxion-Sparkasse 134 Janek Tombak (Est) Cycling Club Bourgas 135 Ronan Mc laughlin (Irl) An Post - Sean Kelly Team 136 Jos Pronk (Ned) KrolstonE Continental Team 137 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) KrolstonE Continental Team 138 Luc Hagenaars (Ned) KrolstonE Continental Team 139 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank 140 Steven Van Vooren (Bel) An Post - Sean Kelly Team 141 Ivor Bruin (Ned) KrolstonE Continental Team 142 David Boucher (Fra) Landbouwkrediet 143 Denis Flahaut (Fra) Landbouwkrediet 144 Eric Baumann (Ger) Team Nutrixxion-Sparkasse 145 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 146 Mauro Facci (Ita) Quickstep 147 Sven Wielandt (Bel) Josan - Isorex - Mercedes-Benz Aalst 148 Rusen Rusev (Bul) Cycling Club Bourgas 149 Jef Peeters (Bel) An Post - Sean Kelly Team 150 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet 151 Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Team Differdange 152 Koen Barbe (Bel) Landbouwkrediet
Past winners
1st 2nd 3rd 2008 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Jürgen Roelandts (Bel) André Greipel (Ger) 2007 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Geert Steurs (Bel) 2006 Bert Roesems (Bel) Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Jeremy Hunt (GBr) 2005 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Geert Omloop (Bel) 2004 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Rudi Kemna (Ned) Jo Planckaert (Bel) 2003 Matthé Pronk (Ned) Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Hendrik Van Dijck (Bel) 2002 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Jans Koerts (Ned) Steven De Jongh (Ned) 2001 Michel Van Haecke Bart Voskamp (Ned) Nico Eeckhout (Bel) 2000 Hendrik Van Dyck Nico Mattan Jan Koerts (Ned) 1999 Jeroen Blijlevens Michel Van Haecke Wielfried Cretskens 1998 Scott Sunderland (Aus) Leon Van Bon (Ned) Chris Peers 1997 Hendrik Van Dyck Wim Feys Bart Voskamp (Ned) 1996 Hendrik Van Dyck Jelle Nijdam (Ned) Michel Cornelisse (Ned) 1995 Jo Planckaert Michel Vermote Geert Van Bondt 1994 Peter De Clercq Michel Cornelisse Chris Peers 1993 Michel Cornelisse (Ned) Jan Bogaert Mario De Clercq 1992 Johan Capiot Peter De Clercq Benjamin Van Itterbeeck 1991 Koen Van Rooy Johan Capiot Martin Koekelhoren (Ned) 1990 Herman Frison Roger Vandenbossche Filip Van Vooren 1989 Rik Van Slycke Andrzej Mierzejewski (Pol) Peter Spanhoven 1988 Patrick Versluys Yves Godimus Danny Janssens 1987 Etienne De Wilde Francky Van Oyen Ludo Giesberts 1986 Luc Colyn Jan Van Camp Rony Van Holen 1985 Didier Foubert Patrick Versluys Jan Bogaert 1984 Jan Bogaert Patrick Versluys Eric Stevens 1983 Walter Schoonjans Patrick Cocquyt Gerald Veldschoten (Ned) 1982 William Tackaert Ludo De Keulenaer Rudi Matthys 1981 Gerrit Knetemann (Ned) Herman Van Springel Claude Criquelion 1980 Jos Van De Poel Johan Vandevelde (Ned) Paul Jesson (NZl) 1979 Hendrik De Vos William Tackaert Tony Houbrechts 1978 Gustaaf Van Roosbroeck Jan Aling (Ned) Jos Jacobs 1977 Frans Van Looy Gerrit Knetemann (Ned) Roberto Cerieto (Ita) 1976 Luc Leman Lucien De Brauwere Geert Malfait 1975 Marc De Meyer Willy Teirlinck Jan Raas (Ned) 1974 Freddy Maertens Pierrino Gavazzi (Ita) Ronald De Witte 1973 Noël Van Tieghem Claude Magni (Fra) Gerard Vianen (Ned) 1972 Tony Houbrechts Rony Van Marcke Willy Planckaert 1971 Herman Van Springel Eric Leman Maurice Eyers 1970 Andre Dierickx Patrick Sercu Bernard Van De Kerkhove 1969 Roger Rosiers Frans Mintjes Michel Jacquemin 1968 Frans Brands Roger Cooreman Michel Jacquemin 1967 Walter Godefroot Jacques De Boever Roger Blockx 1966 Jacques De Boever Oswald De Clercq Reindert De Jongh (Ned) 1965 Arthuur De Cabooter Jos Mathy Gustaaf De Smet 1964 Robert De Middeleir Leon Van Daele André Noyelle 1963 Frans De Mulder Daniël Doom Norbert Kerckbove 1962 No race 1961 Leon Van Daele Jozef Vloeberghs Gilbert Maes 1960 Gilbert De Smet Louis Troonbeeckx Pol Rosseel 1959 No race 1958 Arthuur De Cabooter Gilbert Desmet Julien Schepens 1957 André Auquier Pino Cerami Francis Kemplaire 1956 Marcel Ryckaert Roger Declerck Lucien Mathijs 1955 Jozef Schils Briek Schotte Henri Denijs 1954 Jan Zagers Roger Decock Roger Desmet 1953 Baziel Wambeke Rik Jochums Julien Pascal 1952 Wim Van Est (Ned) André Pieters Rafaël Jonckheere 1951 Gerard Buyl Maurice Blomme Valeer Ollivier 1950 Jules De Poortere Roger Decock Flander Janssens 1949 Nest Sterckx Maurice De Simpelaere Michel Remue 1948 Roger Cnockaert André Declerck Jeroom Renier 1947 Berten Sercu Michel Remue Odiel van der Meerschaut 1946 Emanuel Thoma André Pieters Briek Schotte 1945 Briek Schotte Michel Remue Desiré Keteleer 1944 Marcel Kint Theo Middelkamp (Ned) Gustaaf Van Overloop
