WEVELGEM, Belgium (AP) — Tom Boonen won the Gent Wevelgem classic for the second year in a row, beating Peter Sagan and Matti Breschel in a mass sprint finish on Sunday.
At the end of the 146-mile race through the flat fields of northern Flanders, the Belgian bided his time before unleashing a powerful sprint that no one could match. Behind Sagan of Slovakia and Breschel of Denmark, Oscar Freire of Spain finished fourth.
It was the second classic in three days which Boonen won in a mass sprint, after having beaten Freire in the E3 Prize on Friday.
The wins set up Boonen as the favorite to win the Tour of Flanders, one of the biggest classics in the season, next Sunday.
