Terpstra triumphs in Dwars door Vlaanderen

Winnaar Niki Terpstra #ddv pic.twitter.com/iZwwoWQJQa

— Dwars dr Vlaanderen (@DwarsdrVlaander) March 26, 2014

Dutchman Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) added Wednesday’s Flanders Classic Dwars door Vlaanderen to a Tour of Qatar victory on his 2014 palmares. Terpstra soloed to his second DDV victory with a decisive attack coming on the Paterberg.

It was another cold, wet day for the pro peloton as it departed Roeselare. A huge breakaway formed after a few false starts but couldn’t make it over the first climb, the Nieuwe Kwaremont without losing one escapee, Blaz Jarc (Slovenia/Team NetApp-Endura), who quit the race.

The breakaway platoon stayed intact over more bergs and cobbled sections, but it became clear that there were many passengers on board. In the chasing peloton, Orica-GreenEdge, who had no man in the break, worked to keep tabs on it, with Canadian Svein Tuft taking his turns. The Langley, B.C. native wasn’t able to finish the race after his efforts. The other Canadian in the mix, Hugo Houle of Ag2r-La Mondiale finished in 93rd place, 8:15 back.

On the Valkenberg with 69-km remaining Belkin rider Jos van Emden (The Netherlands) attacked his breakmates, but failed to stay away for long. Everyone stripped down, ate something and took a deep breath before the cobbled Eikenberg with 60 km remaining. Gatis Smukulis (Latvia/Katusha) was determined to hit the foot of the climb alone, so he bolted from the break as the gap shrank to under a minute.

Smukulis stayed in the smooth gutter on the Eikenberg as he tried to keep his 20-second lead on the rest of the escape. In the peloton, last year’s champion Oscar Gatto (Italy/Cannondale) forced the pace.

Smukulis was brought to heel by the fragmented break before the Taaienberg, where Tom Boonen (Belgium/Omega Pharma) attacked. He was joined by a few others, including Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar), racing cobbles to get ready for the bumpy stuff scheduled for the Tour de France’s stage five. However, the peloton came back together, while up front the breakaway was whittled down to eight before the Oude Kwaremont.

The Sky and Orica-GreenEdge driven peloton seemed content to let the octet wheel up Oude Kwaremont but the peloton emerged on the highway leading to the next climb, the Paterberg, split. The Paterberg was the setting for the break’s demise, and once it was reeled in, Terpstra went on a solo attack with Trek trying to haul him back.

Terpstra was hoping to survive until the final climb of the race, the Nokereberg, which peaks just under 8-km to go. The 40-man chasing group dithered and the Dutchman’s gap increased. Stijn Devolder (Belgium/Trek) grew tired of Omega-Pharma’s sandbagging and lit out with three others including Valverde and Terpstra’s teammate Gert Steegmans (Belgium), the latter not having to work. With 11-km remaining Terpstra had 18-seconds over the chasing quartet, which itself had a 19-second lead over the peloton.

Terpstra survived the Nokereberg with a 19-second gap, but attacks from the peloton drew it closer to the Devolder/Valverde chase. The final 6 km of racing saw everyone – even the viewers – gritting teeth. Terpstra actually added to his lead as the chase was absorbed into the peloton. American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) sprinted to a runner-up spot in Waregem.

Go Niki go! #gogogosisisi #ddv #OPQS pic.twitter.com/U893i8isrH — OPQS Cycling Team (@opqscyclingteam) March 26, 2014

Full Results for Dwars door Vlaanderen 2014