Fabian Cancellara (Trek) lived up to his role as favorite at the Tour of Flanders and repeated his victory from last year. For the Bernese it was the third success at the Round. In a final characterized by attacks, he prevailed in the sprint of a top quartet against the Belgians Greg van Avermaet (BMC) and Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin).
The Omega Pharma-QuickStep team made a tactical faux pas. When the race got into the hot phase, the team still dominated the picture at the front of the field. On the second crossing of the Oude Kwaremont, just under 40 kilometers from the finish, the leading group broke up and only Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge), Stig Broeckx (Lotto-Belisol) and Taylor Phinney (BMC) were able to defend themselves against the oncoming field and with the Group around Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Cancellara go on the following kilometers. In this group were three of Boonen's teammates, Zdenek Stybar, Niki Terpstra and Stijn Vandenbergh. Ultimately, it was the latter who attached himself to the rear wheel of Van Avermaet when he tried to escape 33 kilometers.
The Belgian's attack was well chosen. After several attacks fizzled out due to the consistent tracking work of the Omega Pharma QuickStep drivers, Van Avermaet managed to continuously extend his lead. And although Vandenbergh didn't do any work, he went into the final passage of the Oude Kwaremont with a lead of just under a minute. Behind them, the group of favorites had grown again and now also featured drivers like Bradley Wiggins (Sky), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida).
But when Cancellara finally upped the tempo, they, like the Omega Pharma captains, were out of luck. Only Vanmarcke managed to keep up with the Swiss and with him at the end of the Paterberg, the last paved section of the day, caught up with the front runners.
Only now did Vandenbergh begin to get involved in the management of the group. When he tried to blast it with three kilometers to go, it was Van Avermaet who countered him. Cancellara and Vanmarcke initially had some trouble reconnecting. On the home stretch, Cancellara finally had the greatest power reserves.
In the end, Marcus Burghardt (BMC) finished in a very strong twelfth place after he had a defect with almost 35 kilometers to go and then had to work his way back up to the top. John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) also drove a strong race, but had several problems on the paved climbs in the finale and had to settle for fifteenth place.
Result
1. Fabian Cancellara (Trek) 6:15:18
2. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) 0:00:00
3 Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin) 0:00:00
4. Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) 0:00:00
5. Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) 0:00:08
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