Chicchi wins Nokere Koerse

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Francesco Chicchi (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) continued his fine start to the 2012 season with a commanding sprint victory in the Nokere Koerse ahead of Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Boy Van Poppel (UnitedHealthcare).

The Italian ripped clear of Boeckmans on the slightly uphill finishing straight in Nokere to claim his fourth win of the campaign. Chicchi got off the mark in January with two stage victories at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina, and he gave a further indication of his form by taking the opening road Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen last week.

Chicchi’s Omega Pharma-QuickStep team did much to control affairs in the closing stages, but his own knowledge of the finale proved to be crucial. The former under 23 world champion was well positioned coming through the last right-hand corner, and then timed his finishing kick perfectly to take victory.

“Today I was going very well and I knew the finish too as I'd done it a few times in the past,” Chicchi said afterwards. “My team was fantastic as always and believed in me.

"The team was perfect. They took the lead 4km from the finish when the group was all together and did a great job. Iljo Keisse and Andy Fenn were perfect in the final 3km, and then Trentin gave a great leadout in the final kilometer," Chicchi said.

"We only had six riders, but when the team is strong it is no problem whether we have six riders or eight."

The finale was marred by a serious crash with 700m to go, which took down Rabobank sprinter Theo Bos, among others. Bos was fortunate to escape serious injury, but will miss out on Friday's Handzame Classic.

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