Dutch rider Rick Flens battles to second at Belgian semi-classic

The 2010 Spring Classics season is underway, and 26-year-Dutchman Rick Flens put Rabobank on the podium with a gutsy second-place finish at the 63rd Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in Belgium on Sunday, February 28.

On a wet, miserable day that saw just 26 of the 198 starters finish the 194-kilometer race, Flens made the winning three-man break and then sprinted to second place behind fellow Dutch rider Bobbie Traksel.

Rabobank riders were active in both the weekend’s Belgian semi-classic races—Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Together, the two races mark the start of the season in Belgium. Both Lars Boom, a former Cyclo-Cross World Champion, and Nick Nuyens, a Belgian veteran of the classics, launched attacks for Rabobank in Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. And on Sunday Flens rode his Giant TCR Advanced SL to one of the best finishes of his three-year professional career.

The Belgian classics season gets fully underway in March, with races such as Ghent-Wevelgem, the Tour of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Boom and the rest of his Rabobank teammates will be part of the action throughout the spring season.