Having had to abandon Paris-Nice due to the effects from his famous mattress crash in Oman, Matti Breschel (Tinkoff-Saxo) returned to competition in yesterday's Gent-Wevelgem. The Dane was pleased with his form after a race that was dominated by his teammate Manuele Boaro.

It was another huge battle of the giants expected during today’s 233 kilometer long Belgian classic, Gent-Wevelgem. A battle taking place on steep cobbled hills and cross winds through the treacherous Belgian landscape. However, the stretch from the final climb to the finish line was more than 35 kilometers leaving an opportunity to the sprinters to come back.

Tinkoff-Saxo didn’t wait for the sprint as Manuele Boaro participated in the morning break with Sebastian Lander (BMC), Jacobus Venter (Qhubeka), Marcel Aregger (IAM), and Frederik Veuchelen (Wanty) and the group worked up a lead of more than nine minutes.

In the pack, FDJ were the first to fire up their engines to reel the escapees back in and the front group was soon reduced, as Lander was dropped as Boaro attacked on the descent from Monteberg. Mayhem roared in the peloton going in on the final 60 kilometers with numerous furious attacks and Boaro jumped off alone in the front deciding it was time to move forward.

Behind him, the big names, Cancellara and Sagan started testing the legs and shook the field to pieces and with 30 kilometers to go, the game was up for Boaro. But a new trio broke clear with Stijn Devolder (Trek), Silvan Dillier (BMC) and Andrey Amador (Movistar). Behind, the sprinter teams joined forces and reeled the trio back in.

In the bunch sprint, John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) was the fastest of all ahead of Arnuad Demare (FDJ) and Peter Sagan (Canondale).

The race marked the return to competition for Matti Breschel whose crash in Oman put his classics campaign in danger. Having made it into the front group in the tough race, the Dane was pleased with his condition ahead of the bigger classics to come.

"I'm better now. I am happy to be back. It is my first race quitting Paris-Nice, so my hand today was a big problem for a long time, but now it's ok," he told Cyclingnews at the finish. "The legs were ok, I felt that I missed a few races so after Kemmel I thought that maybe I could try and do something, but then after 200km I cracked. I need the races, but hopefully I can get some motor pacing this week and be a little bit better.

"A lot of things can happen in a week. As long as you train well during the winter, it's sometimes easy to come back. Of course, realistically, I'm probably not up there for the victory. I hope I can do a result and something to be proud of."

The team failed to come away with a result as Daniele Bennati could only manage 18th in the bunch sprint.

"Manuele was strong and attacked several times and eventually went solo," sports director Lars Michael said. "He made it alone over Kemmelberg 2nd time and was joined by the first part of the peloton. Here we had Mørkøv who just had struggled back from a wheel change. Unfortunately, Nicki [Sørensen] was involved in a crash and had to abandon.

"As the front trio left the field, we helped pulling in the chase with Chris Juul and Matti but because of crashes, we never made it to the top 10. A rather disappointing result as the guys worked hard throughout the race to get it. But sometimes you just need that last bit of luck as well."