99th Scheldeprijs Schoten – Cavendish takes level with Oellibrandt

01 july 2020

SCHOTEN –Peet Oellibrandt remained during exactly 48 years the only rider who was able to win three times the Scheldeprijs Schoten, but since last Wednesday Mark Cavendish did just the same. 25 years old British rider was the fastest of the expected massive sprint. During the sprint a crash occurred in the bunch which victims were amongst others Tyler Farrar, Wouter Weylandt, Chris Sutton and Sjef De Wilde. Russian rider Denis Galimzyanov finished the second and Belorussian Yauheni Hutarovich the third.

Source: press office Marc Van Landeghem, April, 6th

As soon as official start was given on the Churchill Avenue the first breakaway was already launched. Belgians Baptiste Planckaert (Landbouwkrediet) and Dieter Cappelle (Veranda’s Willems-Accent) went in the break together with French David Boucher (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Russian Vladimir Isaichev (Katusha) and Italian Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD). The bunch looked like it had no intention to chase them immediately and the maximum gap between the leaders and the pack reached 5’30”. Anyway the sprinters’ teams never lost control of the situation.

Just before starting the local laps, at fifty kilometers from the finishing line, the gap started being significantly reduced and it was obvious that the race would end with a sprint. At that point a crash occurred in the bunch and Tom Boonen was amongst the victims. A little later, another crash surprised the riders. Boonen was again caught out in the crash but Edvald Boasson Hagen came off worse after he left the road and hit a tree. He broke three ribs while Boonen only suffered from scratches on elbow and knee. Anyway Belgian rider was no longer in a mood to risk and fight for win. It looked like he made the right choice because another crash happened in the sprint and several riders hit the floor of Churchill Avenue.

Weylandt was the first to crash after his back wheel touched a bump on the road. Farrar could not avoid him and crashed too, together with some other riders. Sjef De Wilde was badly touched and brought to the hospital. He was badly injured and broke two vertebras.

All this happened behind Cavendish, Galimzyanov and Hutarovich. Cavendish was in the lead and going for his second win this year after he won a stage in the Oman Tour already ahead of Galimzyanov just like here.

“No shame in finishing second behind Mark Cavendish”, told Galimzyanov who won last week a stage of the Three Days of De Panne, De Panne-Koksijde. “After I saw the images of the crash I am in fact happy I was not between the victims. I in fact crashed twice today, the second time in the final lap.”

“I was not aware of the crash”, explained Yauheni Hutarovich who took place three. “I went with Chris Sutton when he fastened the pace at 500 meters from the line. I launched my sprint at 200 meters but I had no legs to be able to defeat Cavendish. I had to achieve a big effort just before because at two kilometers from the line I was round place thirty. Considering that, it was really difficult to be able to sprint for win today.”