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Stijn Devolder Doubles up in Flanders

posted by id* at 03:15 PM on April 06, 2009

History repeated itself Sunday at the 2009 Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders), with Stijn Devolder riding his Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL2 bike to an emotional, hard-fought victory for the second year in a row at the 93rd Ronde van Vlaanderen.

Demonstrating some daring tactics and supported by an insurmountable team, the 29-year-old Quick Step rider turned on his turbos to catch and then drop a breakaway featuring teammate Sylvain Chavanel on the legendary Muur-Kapelmuur with 16km to go.

Once he opened a small gap, he poured it on and soloed home to finish alone across the line in Meerbeke in front of thousands of deliriously cheering fans.

“This is the most important race of the year for me,” a happy Devolder said. “It's a dream come true to win for a second time in a row. On the Muur, it was all or nothing. Finally, it was all right there for the taking. What a race!”

This year's victory was perhaps even more unlikely than Devolder’s breakout win in 2008. Last year, all eyes were on pre-race favorite Tom Boonen, opening the door for the unheralded Devolder to ride away with the most important victory of his career.

This year, once again Boonen was the center of attention, but Devolder was also heavily marked as defending champion. Devolder got dropped on the cobblestoned Koppenberg climb with about 70km to go and was forced to regain contact only to gamble everything on a daring move on the ever-decisive Muur.

The bet paid off huge dividends with another dramatic solo victory in the most important race in Belgium.

“I thought everything was lost on the Koppenberg, but on the Berendries, I made the decision to give everything to regain contact with the leading group,” he said. “That was key and it helped me believe it was still possible to win.”

Devolder pointed his fingers to the heavens in honor of recently deceased friend and racer Frederiek Nolf as crossed the line.

“I dedicate this victory to Frederiek, who is a friend of mine,” Devolder said. “I pointed to the sky, where I hope he was watching the race. It was very emotional for me.”

Heinrich Haussler, second in Milan-San Remo two weeks ago, squirted clear in the final 500m to take second while Philippe Gilbert (equipped with Specialized helmets, optics, gloves) avoided a nasty final-sprint crash to round out the podium with third.

It was a spectacular spring day, with temperatures pushing into the 70s and riders opting for short-sleeved summer jerseys, idea conditions for Belgium’s most important bike race of the year. An estimated 1 million people lined the course, with tens of thousands of rowdy Flemish fans clogging the climbs such as the Oude Kwaremont and the Koppenberg.

Quick Step played its cards perfectly, putting Chavanel into a promising move coming up the Koppenberg, with pre-race favorites Boonen and Filippo Pozzato leading the main pack up the grinding, 600-meter cobble-stoned climb with a maximum pitch of 22 percent.

At the back, there was the unlikely sight of Fabian Cancellara, struggling throughout the spring with injuries and illness, carrying his Specialized bike on his shoulder after breaking a chain.

Things went sideways for Devolder who got gapped on the climb and was forced to dig deep to regain contact with the heavyweight favorites. Boonen and Pozzato set another blistering pace on the Taaienberg with 62km to go to trim the lead group down to about three dozen contenders.

Devolder came back to life on the Eikenmolen climb, the 14th of the day, in a daring move, dropping favorites Boonen and Pozzato to bridge out to Chavanel, outsider Preben Van Hecke and Manuel Quinziato The quartet carved out a slender, yet critical 40-second lead on the approaches of the decisive Muur climb.

With the likes of Juan Antonio Flecha and Gilbert attacking on the lower parts of the Muur, Devolder dropped the hammer midway up the climb and got the gap he needed. Quinziato almost cleared the top with Devolder, but Chavanel wasn't going to lift a finger to help chase down his teammate.

“It’s a great day for Stijn and for the team, but personally, I am a little disappointed. When I was ahead with Quinziato, I was dreaming it might be possible to win Flanders. The public was behind me. Stijn just exploded on the Grammont and I wasn’t going to chase him,” Sylvain Chavanel said. “On this team, only victories count. We are not racing to finish second or third. The effort of the entire team was very strong today. That’s satisfying. Paris-Roubaix? We can talk about that tomorrow.”

Saxo Bank’s Matti Breschel (Specialized bikes & Body Geometry shoes) finished a career-best sixth with the front bunch of favorites at 59 seconds back. Boonen didn’t contest the sprint for third and rolled across the line 20th.

Devolder joins an elite club of back-to-back winners, a feat that's only been matched six times in Flanders history.

Up next is Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix. There's more history to be written, but who will be the protagonists? Count on Boonen and Devolder to be right in the thick of the action.

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