Oscar Gatto won the Dwars door Vlaanderen Belgian Spring Classic race this afternoon.
A cruelling 199.7kms over 13 hills in the cold and wet from Roselare to Waregem was the fate of the 176 riders.
Fourteen riders in Steegmans (OPQS), Bassajev (Astana), Mol and Veuchelen (Vacansoleil), Juul Jensen (Saxo), Hayman (Sky), Stamsnijder (Argos), Van der Sande (Lotto-Belisol), Saramotins (IAM), Sijmens en Zingle (Cofidis), Gène (Europcar), Napolitano (Accent Jobs) and Brammeier (Champions System).took to the front before the first climb of the day - the Quaremont.
An early crash saw British rider Alex Dowsett forced out with a knee injury in a crash which also saw Champions Systems Ryan Roth, Chan Jae Jang and Ganq Jiao as well as Bille, Goddeart, and Wetterhall all forced to abandon.
With 80kms to go, Roman Zingle of Cofidis shot away and got 45 seconds clear. He was caught by Steegmans, Bazayev, Veuchelen, Saramotins and Matt Hayman who attacked and with 35kms remaining was 33 seconds ahead before Stijn Vandenbergh and Oscar Gatto joined him.
Their attempt to stay away failed and Maes, Vandenbergh, Gatto, Hayman, Ian Stannard, Keukeleire, Leukemans, Bazayev, Iglinskiy and Voeckler became the leaders on the road.
With 21kms to go and three climbs left, Team Sky's Geraint Thomas had got himself into a second group which included Terpstra, Leukemans, Lindemans, Gallopin, Larson, Saramotns, Thurau, Vantomme and Devolder and was 25 seconds behind the front group.
There were seven kilometres left when Europcar's Tommy Voeckler made his move. Maes tried to being him back but the Frenchman held off until metres from the finish line where he was caught by Oscar Gatto who took the win in a time of 4.43.22 ahead of Borut Bozic and Matt Hayman, Mirko Selvaggi and Thomas Voeckler.
British road race champion Ian Stannard finished tenth.
Picture courtesy of Team Sky