Race report: After yesterday’s lemming-like ride into self-destruction, Etixx – Quick-Step’s riders would no doubt have taken to the road with Patrick Lefevre’s team-talk thunder-clapping around their ears like a Pete Townsend power-chord from a 1970s Who concert. Today, they got it right in the end with a fine sprint win for Mark Cavendish.The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was a curious equation: Boonen + Terpstra + Vandenbergh vs Stannard = Stannard wins. How to turn a three from four chance into defeat. Like a fearsome schoolmaster, Lefevre gave his tweaked line-up the chance to sort themselves out at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, and upped the ante by throwing Cavendish into the mix.How the race unfoldedToday’s equation was as much about degrees above zero Celsius as anything else. A cold start made for a sluggish opening hour, before anything resembling a break got away. Eight riders eventually chipping clear with and taking a lead of three minutes, but with Sky, Etixx – Quick-Step, Cofidis and IAM Cycling involved in restricting the chase, there was no real leeway. Over the Cte de Trieu, Boonen’s boys hit the gas and split the field, and pretty much toasted the escape.Boonen put the pressure onBoonen tried a few times to up the tempo and make things as painful as possible, and Sky combined with Etixx to drive the split as the gap to the escape tumbled. It looked like curtains for most of the field but a desperate grinding chase from MTN among others brought it all together.Inside 30kms...
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