Tour of Flanders:Devolder!!!!!

So,the first of the Northern Classics,Tour of Flanders,has come and gone.And the winner wasn’t Pozzato.At a certain point of the race he made a good attack on a wall,and so I said to myself:”This time you’ll really have to put a photo of him on your blog,dear (It may sound silly,but this was my first thought) so you'd better get ready to do that!".Fortunately for me,I could avoid to search Pozzato's photos through the Internet thanks to Stijn Devolder,who won the race for the second time in his career.I really do like that rider and his team,Quick Step,made a simply perfect race.Everybody thought Boonen would have been the team’s leader,and instead Devolder was free to trace his way on to his second consecutive winning of this great classic.Chapeau.
When I turned my television on,there was a breakaway with Hoste,Guesdon (who won a Paris-Roubaix some years ago),Chavanel,Quinziato and Bandiera.Sooner or later,I’d love to see Hoste winning the Tour of Flanders.In fact I think that arriving second at the Tour of Flanders for three times must be very annoying (especially for a Belgian rider).
Anyway,at a certain point Chavanel and Quinziato left all the others behind and,after some kms,they were joined by Devolder.Then,on the Grammont,the Quick Step rider attacked and dropped his two companions and managed to arrive alone on the finish,just like he did in 2008.

The chasing trio (formed by Quinziato,Chavanel and a surprising Van Hecke) was then reeled by the peloton (I would have liked to see Quinziato on the podium,so I wasn’t really happy),that sprinted for second place.Haussler anticipated everyone and came second (just like in Milan-Sanremo),while third came Gilbert.During the sprint there was a bad crash that involved Gregory Rast and Greg Van Avermaet.4th came Maaskant (yep!) while Pozzato arrived 5th.
The first rider of SB,Breschel,arrived 6th.Fabian Cancellara's chances for the day ended when he broke his chain.First, he walked up the rest of the hill,then he turned around and rode halfway back down to collect his chain,which he hung around his neck as a sort of souvenir.Hopefully he’ll be luckier in the rest of the season.

What the riders said after the race:
Devolder: “ This is unbelievable. I've lived up to this race for so long and I encountered a lot of bad luck.I worked hard with all the people that kept believing in me. said I would win and I did it.It was very weird race. I was able to join [Tom] Boonen and [Filippo] Pozzato after the Berendries,and then I pulled through toward the leaders.I recovered,and on the Muur, played my last card.I'm planning to stay focused on this race during the next few years as the Ronde van Vlaanderen remains the most important race of the year for me.While crossing the finish line,I pointed a finger to the sky.It’s for Frederik (Nolf):I promised this to him,his death changed my way to see life.In one minute you can lose everything.”
Haussler:"I didn't have the legs today.In the end I was going to ride for Thor, but he told me to attack, so I went."
Boonen:“Pozzato was my shadow.Everybody saw that we were killing each other. I couldn't drop him, and he couldn't drop me. When we attacked, we distanced everybody, but he didn't want to continue. So for me, the door was closed, but it opened the door for Stijn and Sylvain (Chavanel)."
Pozzato: “Boonen was the strongest, compliments to the Quick Step team.I felt well,but not as well as in La Panne.I tried to take Boonen as a reference point,he was the strongest. Unfortunately it didn’t work.”

Classification:
1 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step 6.01.04 (43,455 km/h)
2 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Cervelo Test Team 0.59
3 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Silence-Lotto
4 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Garmin - Slipstream
5 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Team Katusha
6 Matti Breschel (Den) Team Saxo Bank
7 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Team Columbia - Highroad
8 Bjorn Leukemans (Bel) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
9 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
10 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
14 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo Bank
20 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step
27 Leif Hoste (Bel) Silence-Lotto
31 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step 1.08
32 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas 1.11
33 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Rabobank 1.14
34 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - Highroad 1.44
35 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence-Lotto 3.02
57 Ermanno Capelli (Ita) Fuji-Servetto 6.45
66 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Columbia - Highroad
67 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
92 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team Saxo Bank 13.53
109 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Team Saxo Bank
110 Kasper Klostergaard Larsen (Den) Team Saxo Bank

Links:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2009/apr09/rvv09/?id=results :report,results and a video of the race’s finish.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2009/apr09/rvv09/?id=/riders/2009/interviews/stijn_devolder_rvv09 :interview post-race with Devolder.

NB:Tomorrow starts the Tour du Pays Basque,with Frank,Andy,Contador and many other riders.On Saturday Andy arrived 28th in GP Indurain,while Frank arrived 30th.The race was won by De La Fuente in front of Kolobnev.