April 6, 2005 – Gent-Wevelgem is a sprinter’s race, a relatively straightforward interlude between the arduous, repetitive climbs of the Tour of Flanders and the numbing pain of Paris-Roubaix. And with a long, flat run to the finish, there’s usually plenty of time for the sprinters to rely on their teammates, control the race, and set up the finish to their liking. But sometimes a patient strategy can be its own downfall, and old-timers are often quick to point out that the surest way to win a race is to be at the front. And even a sprinter’s classic can sometimes hand out an unexpected gift to someone whose career has been characterized more by loyalty than laurels.

Enter Nico Mattan (Davitamon-Lotto), who came into the pro ranks eleven years ago and in that time has won a grand total of three races, the biggest being the Three Days of De Panne which is centered on his hometown. Mattan is cycling — the pack we watch in awe is mainly made up of cyclists like him. And when we watch a race and strive to pick out the stars, the only time we notice someone like Mattan is when we say something like “There’s Tom Steels — and he’s got help.” Nico Mattan is the help, and for eleven years has ferried bottles and taken pulls for stars of Belgian cycling like Frank Vandenbroucke and Steels. Today, he helped himself.

The 208K race began developing with with 85kms to go, when heavy crosswinds as the race veered south from De Panne to Ieper led to echelons and a front group of 28 riders split off, including matching four-man contingents from Quickstep (Boonen, Cretskens, Hulsmans, Knaven) and Davitamon-Lotto (Steels, Mattan, Steegmans, Vogels). Rabobank also had a strong presence (De Jongh, Hayman, Kroon). And Canadian Mark Walters (Navigators) made the break, a tremendous reward for staying near the front! The big losers: T-Mobile, who’d lost Andreas Klier to a crash and completely missed the break when the bulk of the team waited up for him, and Discovery, who — with Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal making a start — spent the early part of the race trying to shepherd along George Hincapie. Never near the front, Hincapie would abandon just after the midway point.

The first of two ascents of the Kemmelberg (a brutal kilometer-long cobbled climb that averages 9% with some sections topping 18.5%) threw a bit of a bomb into the front pack, with the favourites handling the climb well but the overall lead group immediately beginning to run out of gas — within a few kilometers, the gap between the lead group and main pack had dwindled from a minute to under 20 seconds.

As the groups came together some attacks began running off the front in an attempt to revive a break while the main favourites stayed put. Just before the second ascent of the Kemmelberg (39km to go), Fassa’s Juan Antonio Flecha attacked and built a small lead, and was joined by a handful of others to form a solid group on the relatively flat run towards the finish: his teammate Fabio Cancellara, Bennati (Lampre), Pozzato (Quickstep), Hushovd (Credit Agricole), Backstedt (Liquigas), Mattan (Davitamon-Lotto) and Cooke (FDJ).

Tom Boonen, in tremendous form after his Flanders win last weekend but wanting to hold onto as much team support as he could through to the latest stages of the race, was in a second group of six with his teammate Cretskens, Kirsipuu (Credit Agricole), Breschel (CSC), Cruz (Discovery), and Kroon (Rabobank). But with Cruz and Breschel sitting on and Cretskens looking like he was lacking power, the gap grew to 30 then 45 seconds and Boonen was condemned to doing most of the chasing himself. Meanwhile the front group shared work well and, with solid rollers like Hushovd, Cancellara and Backstedt, had every hope of staying away — certainly letting Boonen back in wasn’t part of the plan. Quickly readjusting his strategy, Boonen sat up, and his group was absorbed by the main peloton where reinforcements awaited. Teaming up with an active Rabobank team and others, they began to dig into the lead in earnest — the strategy seemed to have paid off”¦

But as the break’s lead dwindled to within 20 seconds it began to break apart, with the most serious attack by wily veteran Mattan — his third jump. Chasing hard to keep it together and with a light rain falling, Backstedt and Pozzato came down together in a corner, slowing the chase. Flecha began to hunt down Mattan and, with three kilometres to go Flecha caught and dropped the apparently tiring Belgian, while Baden Cooke tried without success to bridge across. The attacks had upped the pace: the gap to the main pack was up to 30 seconds. The race would be decided in front.

But just when it looked as if Mattan was dead, the Belgian found a way back. Digging very, very deep, Mattan found a way to hold Flecha’s gap at ten seconds and began to grind away at it, taking full advantage of some very conveniently ill-positioned support motorbikes — an unexpected home field advantage for the local boy. As the finish line drew close, Flecha was visibly running out of gas. As they entered the finishing straight, Mattan blew by Flecha, who by that time was on the brake hoods, utterly spent — his effort had come too soon. Mattan cruised to the win — who said good help is hard to find?

For the others — particularly the unlucky Backstedt, all eyes turned to the cobbled roads of northern France, with more questions now than answers: would Boonen be able to hold his tremendous run of form for the entire week? Was Hincapie going to be a factor? And would anyone be able to make a run at the gigantic Swede Backstedt, who would be defending the title and was getting visibly stronger with each race”¦

67th Gent-Wevelgem

1. Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon – Lotto 4.57.23
2. Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Fassa Bortolo
3. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre – Caffita
4. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo
5. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
6. Baden Cooke (Aus) Française des Jeux
7. Tom Steels (Bel) Davitamon – Lotto
8. Simone Cadamuro (Ita) Domina Vacanze
9. Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile
10. Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Cofidis – Le Crédit par Téléphone