Tough day for Irish in Belgian classic

The Sean Kelly/ An Post Professional Cycling team endured a most difficult day in the Dwars door Vlaanderen classic today in Belgium, with just one rider of the eight starters finishing the race.

The team came into the 200km event in good spirits after a string of promising early season results and with former winner Niko Eckhoudt posting an excellent finish at the weekend hopes were high of a good result.

However, the pace was frenetic from the start and with 95km covered in the first two hours of racing it wasn’t long before something gave.

“Not good today, we had a bad day,” said team manager Kurt Bogaerts at the finish. “We had only one finisher, I don’t know exactly where he finished but it was a tough race and then we had a lot of bad luck, we had a broken frame, we had a crash, three punctures then Niko (Eckhoudt) crashed.

“The circumstances are hard. It was a good day today with good weather, everyone really wanted to race but these things happen of course. Just one of those days,” added Bogaerts.

The attention now turns to Saturday where the team will hope for a better showing in the prestigious E3 Prijs Vlaanderen.

Continued Bogaerts; “Over the next few weeks the team will remain pretty much the same. All the races coming up are of a really high standard so we’re looking for consistency.”

“Apart from injuries I don’t want to change the lineup too much. Everyone is training well and knows what I expect, so I’m sure the results will come.”

The An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly team will mainly compete in races on mainland Europe this year, but will also return to Ireland for the FBD Insurance Rás and the Tour of Ireland. The home competitors will also line out in the national road race championships here.

Today's race was won by Danish champion Matti Breschel who scored an important victory for his Saxo Bank team, riding away solo with 22km left to form a group of favourites including Quick Step's Tom Boonen and then holding off the chase to the line.

Breschel was part of an elite group which brought back two escape groups after the cluster of climbs which came inside the final 40km. With teammate Fabian Cancellara and previous escapee Anders Lund to help, the Saxo Bank team had a decided advantage over Quick Step who had only Boonen and Maarten Wynants.

Their group had 25 seconds over a larger chasing peloton, and Breschel slipped away off the front on the Tiegemberg climb while the rest of the riders played cat and mouse, with few riders willing or able to work.

Elsewhere, Nicholas Roche (Ag2r) finished a highly impressive sixth on today’s 185km Stage 3 of the Volta Ciclista A Catalunya. The 25-year-old Irishman came in as part of an 18-man group one minute and 18 seconds down on stage winner Xavier Tondo (Cervelo test team).

Following yesterday’s 8th place finish and Monday’s opening prologue, the national champion moved up to fourth place overall in the General Classification, 32 seconds behind third place Luis Leon Sanchez.

The Race concludes on Sunday and is seen as key preparation for the April Spring classics, Giro d’Italia and Tour de France which Roche is expected to ride in.