Cancellara wins Tour of Flanders for third time

Fabian Cancellara won the Tour of Flanders yesterday for the second year running.  It was the third time he has won Belgium’s most gruelling cycle race. The Swiss cyclist pulled ahead with a powerful surge at the finish that edged him over the line a fraction of a second ahead of three chasing Belgian riders.

Cancellara (pictured centre), who won his first Tour in 2010, was in a four-man break with Greg Van Avermaet, Sep Vanmarcke and Stijn Vandenbergh, but none of his rivals had enough power for the final sprint after more than six hours of wind-lashed and accident-laden racing on the 259-kilometre course from Bruges to Oudenaarde.

Van Avermaet, from Lokeren, was at the front when Cancellara went for it, but he had to settle for second, ahead of Kortrijk’s Vanmarcke, with Oudenaarde’s Vandenbergh bringing up the rear. “It was man against man, and I just kept pushing,” Cancellara said. “Amazing day again; I feel sorry for the Belgians.”

Analysts expected this year’s race to be a clash of giants between Cancellara and Belgium’s three-time winner Tom Boonen, but “Tommeke” finished seventh.  The 2012 Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins of the UK came in 32nd.

Dozens of crashes marred a nervous first half of the race, with last year’s third-place finisher Jürgen Roelandts and 2011 Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Van Summeren both crashing out. Van Summeren ran into a spectator and was taken to hospital for observation.