Ronde van Vlaanderen: Kwiatkowski a Key Protagonist

Ronde van Vlaanderen: Kwiatkowski a Key Protagonist

Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Michal Kwiatkowski made a key move on the Molenberg with about 120km to go in 256.2km Ronde van Vlaanderen, staying on the wheel of an attacking Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), eventually bridging to a group of seven riders ahead with a chase group, and staying away with 31km to go as the break dwindled down to just two riders once again. Kwiatkowski even led the pack up most of the climbs leading up to that point.

Eventually, Kwiatkowski and his break mate were joined by Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol) and about four other riders, and Kwiatkowski continued to work hard in the break.

Sylvain Chavanel and Stijn Vandenbergh were visible at the front of the peloton, with two other riders from OPQS with 20km to go, but that is when Roelandts and another rider went on the attack with Kwiatkowski falling off the pace in the breakaway. The gap was down to 28 seconds, and the peloton reduced to about 40 or 50 riders.

Two kilometers later, Roelandts went solo. But the Oude Kwaremont is where the race truly animated. Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Leopard) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale) attacked, with no one able to stay with them. As Cancellara and Sagan made their way to Roelandts, they caught OPQS rider Kwiatkowski. Kwiatkowski did his best to stay with the duo, but lost contact after a long day of riding at the front of the race. Cancellara rode away with Sagan on his wheel.

Cancellara and Sagan caught Roelandts with about 15km to go, and Cancellara rode away to victory on the famous Paterberg — Maximum ramps of 20% on the climb with a 12.9% average. Cancellara built a lead up to 1'10" on the rest of the field in the final kilometers. Sagan finished 2nd, and Roelandts 3rd. Chavanel was the top finisher for OPQS, in 13th place.

Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Tom Boonen had an unfortunate crash at 19km of Ronde van Vlaanderen after accidentally hitting an object. As a consequence of the crash, Boonen abandoned on Sunday. For more information, read the article here: http://www.omegapharma-quickstep.com/en/news/show/ronde-van-vlaanderen-tom-boonen-injury-update/1147

"It was a nice race and the strongest won," Boonen said of the Ronde. "Everybody was expecting for something, but at the end the two strongest guys went away. OPQS team did a good race. It's more painful not to be there if we consider the strong collective race they did. Congratulations to Cancellara. Concerning me, I have time to come back and for sure I will try again next year."

"When Cancellara and Sagan attacked I was on the wheel of Boasson Hagen," Chavanel said. "Cancellara and Sagan were really strong today, but personally I have no regrets. I think I did a good race, as one of the controlled guys of the races I couldn't attack from afar. The circuit is also so difficult that it blocked the race. Nobody wants to take the risk to jump before the last lap and I think that in the future things won't change a lot. Today we also lost Tom. Tom has been unlucky since the beginning of the year, I feel so sorry for him. I saw all the effort he did to be in shape for this race. Unfortunately crashes are part of the race. Maybe if Tom was there, something could have changed. For Paris-Roubaix it's different. The cobblestone sections are longer and normally there is more natural selection, so it won't be a blocked race."

"I had good legs today," Kwiatkowski said. "That was a really hard day for me. I did my best, doing my best to try to stay in the front to help guys in the back so they could stay calm. I'm happy about my day. Unfortunately Tom had a crash in the beginning so that was really bad for us and finally I was able to get in front for the team. I'm still young, I want to fight everywhere but you know that's why I say, I had good legs today, and was looking for chances in the breakaway. It was a mistake today that I didn't follow Roelandts before the Kwaremont because I could stay with him on the bottom probably. But Ok, Cancellara and Sagan came and I tried to follow the wheel of Sagan. In the last 50 meters I had tired legs and could not follow. I think I did a good job for the team with my situation today, and that's the most important thing."

"Kwiatkowski did a great race spending almost the entire day in the breakaway," Sport Director Wilfried Peeters said. "He was impressive if you consider that it was his first Ronde. We knew that the last lap on the Kwaremont would have been the decisive moment of the race, but when the two strongest guys went unfortunately we weren't able to follow. Except Roelandts, who wasn't among the favorites, nobody did a move before the last lap. The race was really blocked, everybody was waiting and looking at each other. As a team we did a good race. With Tom in the race we could have played more tactically."