Omega Pharma-Quick Step had the numbers in yesterday's final of the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen. In the end, they had to be content with the 6th place of Sylvain Chavanel, and the Frenchman admitted that winner Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack) was just too strong.

All looked bright for Omega Pharma-Quick Step in yesterday's E3 Prijs Vlaanderen. Just before the Paterberg a 15-rider front group had been made, and the Belgian team had been strong enough to enter 5 riders. Team captain Tom Boonen, Sylvain Chavanel, Zdenek Stybar, Stijn Vandenbergh and Michal Kwiatkowsi were all up there.

Moments later Fabian Cancellara accelerated valiantly on the Oude Kwaremont, and that proved to be the Belgian team's undoing. Boonen had a crisis, and he and Kwiatkowski had to fall back. As the remaining riders tried to get organized in their chase of the Swiss former world TT champion, Stybar and Vandenbergh paid their price for a hard day's work, and Chavanel ended up as the sole representative in a 5-man chase group.

The chase group failed in their attempt to reel back the eventual winner, and in the fight for the remaining podium places Chavanel had no more energy after doing the bulk of the work in group. He rolled in to claim the 6th place, and he lost his lead on the world ranking as he moved down to third.

The Frenchman admitted that the victory was beyond his reach, but was positive with respect to the plenty of important races in the near future.

"Today Cancellara was very strong," he said. "Behind him we tried to chase. There was collaboration between us after the Kwaremont, but it wasn't possible to catch him. The final was really fast due to the tailwind and it was a bit too late. As for my performance, I felt good today even if not super, but this is the first of a series of races where I can be a protagonist. Until Paris-Roubaix I will try to be there."

Peeters happy with performance

Their strength in numbers once again proved Omega Pharma-Quick Step's position as the world's best team on the Belgian cobbles. With a 6th place for Chavanel and a 7th for Boonen who won the bunch sprint behind the chase group, the end result was, however, not up to the usual standard of the team which dominated these races last year.

Nonetheless, sports director Wilfried Peeters was content with the performance of his team.

"As a team we had a good race today," he said. "It went exactly as we thought it would up until the Kwaremont. Then on the Kwaremont we had the acceleration of Cancellara. Boonen lost contact but when we came out from Kwaremont on the big road we were still in the chasing group with three guys: Chavanel, Stybar and Vandenbergh. At that point, Stybar and Vandenbergh paid the price of the great work they had done in the group before to support the team, and they lost contact from the chasing group. We did not ask them to wait for Boonen as he was already supported by Kwiatkowski. It was simply a bad moment in the race. However, as a team we performed well. Chavanel showed again that he is in good shape and Boonen - after a difficult moment on the Kwaremont - was able to recover and take the 7th place with a strong sprint."

The team now turns its focus to Sunday's Gent-Wevelgem where Mark Cavendish joins the squad. They will help the Manxman get over the Kemmelberg with the best and thus give him a shot at one of the victories which has so far eluded the former world champion.