Terpstra solos to Dwars door Vlaanderen victory

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Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) soloed to victory in Dwars door Vlaanderen to win the Belgian classic for the second time in three years. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) won the sprint for second ahead of Borut Bozic (Astana) 19 seconds later.

"I was very motivated for this race," Terpstra said. "I trained really well for this, put a lot of effort into this. When it pays off, it's a great feeling."

The Dutchman bridged to an eight-man break at the top of the Paterberg at 30km to go and rode right past the escapees into a solo lead. While a four-man chase group of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), Nicki Sørensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Stijn Devolder (Trek Factory Racing) and Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) closed to within 15 seconds, they could not catch the flying Dutchman.

The four chasers would be swept up at 1.5km remaining as Terpstra's lead grew back to 30 seconds. With Terpstra's advantage unassailable, the peloton set up their sprint for the final two podium places.

Since the race is not on the World Tour calendar, riders did not have radios to allow Terpstra to know what was going on behind, but the former Dutch champion has faith that his team would protect his lead.

"I knew the team was behind me to defend my attack. So, it gave me a lot of morale," Terpstra said. "I put myself in time trial mode and went to the finish. This was actually a long time trial for me. It was all headwind until the finish. I gave the best I could and in the end I still had a lot of power in my legs."

"In the last kilometer I couldn't see the gap behind me. But on the last 600 meters I could see they weren't behind me. It gave me a good feeling, but you never know until you cross the finish line.

"I was able to finish the job of the whole team and I am happy with my condition."

How it unfolded

The start in Roeselare was not only overshadowed by U.S. President Barack Obama's visit but also by several rain clouds. As soon as the peloton left the main square in Roeselare, however, the precipitation stopped. A fast first hour of racing wore many riders down with a large lead group of 21 riders eventually going clear and animating the first half of the race.

In the peloton Orica-GreenEdge and Movistar, two of the three teams who missed the move, did most of the work to keep the group under control. The time gap between the two groups never grew extended beyond three minutes.

When approaching the Eikenberg at 58km from the finish the Garmin-Sharp team upped the pace in the peloton to bring the gap down to approximately one minute. The lead group briefly split apart on the Eikenberg and a little later Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) featured in front of the peloton over the cobbled climb which often kicks off the finale.

In the gutter of the Taaienberg Kenneth Van Bilsen (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) showed off his good legs in the lead group while Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) did the same in the peloton, closely being marked by Jens Keukeleire (Orica GreenEdge) and Steve Chainel (AG2R La Mondiale).

When approaching the Oude Kwaremont climb the gap between the lead group, now reduced to eight riders, and the peloton was half a minute. The eight leaders included Markel Irizar Aranburu (Trek Factory Racing), Kenneth Van Bilsen and Tom Van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise), Gediminas Bagdonas (AG2R La Mondiale), Jos van Emden (Belkin Pro Cycling Team), Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Aleksejs Saramotins (IAM Cycling) and Romain Zingle (Cofidis, Solutions Credits).

On the 2.2km-long cobbled climb at 35km from the finish in Waregem Keukeleire and Ian Stannard (Sky) led the peloton which completely split apart. In the few kilometres towards the short but steep Paterberg the first part of the peloton closed the final gap on the leaders, being led by Terpstra and Stannard.

Just over the top Terpstra accelerated and he quickly gained a good gap. On the cobbles of the Varent the riders from Trek Factory Racing tried to keep Terpstra in check but instead he increased his lead up to half a minute.

"The attack on the Paterberg wasn't planned, but in the final we know we have to be in front when we reach that point. I passed the front group on the Paterberg, I accelerated, and then I was alone," Terpstra said.

Twenty kilometres from the finish Devolder attacked the peloton on the Vossenhol climb with Nicki Sørensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) marking his wheel.

With Steegmans marking the move and not contributing to the chase, the remaining three riders closed to within 15 seconds of Terpstra, but would be unable to come any closer to the powerhouse Dutchman.

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