Maes wins World Ports Classic

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Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin) soloed to victory in the final stage of the World Ports Classic while Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) won overall, the first general classification title of his career, following his third place finish on today's stage.

A 16-man break dominated affairs on the final day of racing at the two-day stage race, 191km between Rotterdam and Antwerp, with the peloton sitting up and rolling in eight minutes in arrears. The race-winning escape was comprised of Maarten Tjallingii and Maarten Wynants (Belkin); Frederique Robert, Jonas Van Genechten, Stig Broeckx and Lars Ytting Bak (Lotto Belisol); Jonathan Cantwell, Marko Kump and Jonas Jorgensen (Saxo-Tinkoff); Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-QuickStep); Alexander Porsev (Katusha); Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil-DCM); Roy Curvers (Argos-Shimano); Reinier Honig (Crelan-Euphony); Tristan Valentin (Cofidis) and Bryan Coquard (Europcar).

Tjallingii rode away from the break with 20km remaining and held on to take his first victory in over seven years. Frederique Robert (Lotto Belisol) took the sprint for second place, three seconds behind the Dutchman, with Maes placing third.

"The collaboration in the break was not good, and with 20 kilometres to go, I thought, I’m just going to give it a try," said Tjallingii. "I quickly took 20 seconds and thought that if the wind was in my favour, I really had a chance.

"With two kilometres to go, I had 10 seconds. That’s when I really started believing in the win. Under the red flag they were still quite far behind. At that moment I started sprinting and was able to hold on to my lead.

"Yesterday I didn't feel so good and even considered quitting the race, but I'm happy I didn't. This is one of my best wins in a long time. This victory is for my son."

The peloton was led in eight minutes after Tjallingii by Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) with the German champion taking 17th on the day.

The time bonus Maes picked up for third earned him the overall victory, two seconds ahead of breakaway companions Jonathan Cantwell (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Reinier Honig (Crelan-Euphony), second and third on general classification respectively. With such a large deficit to the peloton the 16 riders in the break ended up taking the top 16 places on the final general classification.

Stage 1 winner and overnight race leader Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) placed 18th on the stage, second to Greipel in the peloton's field sprint to the finish, and dropped to 17th overall at 7:25.