Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) won the Scheldeprijs race in a bunch sprint in Schoten, on the outskirts of the Belgian city of Antwerp. He beat Robbie McEwen (Katusha) and Robert Förster (Milram) into second and third place to become the first American rider to win the prestigious race.
Farrar’s win adds to the strong Belgian week enjoyed by the Garmin-Transitions team, with his and David Millar’s wins in the Three Days of De Panne, and top six places in the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
The 205.4km race, which takes in a number of cobbled sections, was dominated by an eight man breakaway group. Jonas Ljungblad (OmegaPharma-Lotto), Matthew Hayman (Sky), Jackson Stewart (BMC Racing), David Boucher (Landbouwkrediet), Arnoud Van Groen (Vacansoleil), Cyril Lemoine (Saur-Sojasun), Stijn Joseph (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Nico Eeckhout (An Post-Sean Kelly) escaped after around 50km. The eight riders managed to build a lead of over six minutes, but with the presence of so many top sprinters in the peloton behind them the advantage was reduced rapidly in the second half of the race.
As the group entered the three finishing circuits the lead was cut to just two minutes and its capture appeared inevitable. On the second crossing of the cobbled Broekstraat there were a number of crashes, one of which brought down two-time winner Tom Boonen. The Belgian champion, who said before the race that he as not planning to ride for himself, was forced to change one of his shoes as he chased back but managed to regain the peloton.
At the start of the final 16.4km circuit the lead was cut to just 20 seconds after work on the front of the peloton from team HTC-Columbia on behalf of André Greipel and Stijn Devolder (Quick Step) on behalf of Wouter Weylandt. With the capture imminent, Eeckhout went on the attack, he was countered by Hayman but the New Zealander was caught by his fellow escapees once more; the peloton finally pulled them in with 10km to go.
With its man Hayman back in the fold, Team Sky came to the front to line up Greg Henderson in the sprint. Most of the other big names were present at the head of the peloton though, with the notable exception of defending champion Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) who had drifted to the rear of the peloton.
Boonen tried to lead out Weylandt but Farrar opened up his sprint and was too fast for the others to come past.
Result
1. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Transitions
2. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha)
3. Robert Förster (Ger) Milram
4. Gregory Henderson (NZl) Team Sky
5. Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step
6. Enrico Rossi (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia
7. Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator
8. Jimmy Casper (Fra) Saur-Sojasun
9. Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale
10. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing