Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) won the mass sprint on stage 2 of the Tour de Wallonie. Aleksandr Kolobnev (Katusha) keeps the overall lead.

After a crash in the Ronde van Vlaanderen where he fractured a rib, Tom Boonen’s classics season was over. The Belgian returned to racing in May, finished second on stage 1 of the Belgium Tour, and won the kermesse race Heistse Pijl in early June. Now he has won his first UCI race of the year.

The 174.4 km stage from Verviers to Engis was dominated by a 4-rider breakaway: Stijn Steels, Gilles Devillers (both Crelan-Euphony), Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Tom Deniers (Wallonie-Bruxelles) got an advantage of more than 9 minutes, and 50 km from the finish Steels attacked and continued on his own.

But with 15 km to go the Belgian was caught, and in the sprint Boonen beat Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) and Michael van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise).

Stage 2 result:

1. Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) 4:23:33

2. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp)

3. Michael van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)

4. Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM)

5. Danilo Napolitano (Accent Jobs-Wanty)

6. Antoine Demoitie (Wallonie-Bruxelles)

7. Jetse Bol (Belkin Pro Cycling Team)

8. Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack-Leopard)

9. Jonas Vangenechten (Lotto-Belisol)

10. Aleksandr Porsev (Katusha)

General classification after two stages:

1. Aleksandr Kolobnev (Katusha) 9:27:43

2. Anthony Geslin (FDJ.fr) +0:06

3. Julien Berard (AG2R La Mondiale) +0:09