 Hammond held the lead late on before being pippped by Burghardt |
Britain's Roger Hammond finished in second place in the Gent-Wevelgem one-day classic in Belgium. Hammond held off Oscar Freire to finish two seconds behind T-Mobile team-mate Marcus Burghardt of Germany in four hours 53 minutes and six seconds.
The trio had been part of a five-man breakaway group and managed to avoid the danger of the treacherous cobbles which took their toll on the peloton.
Several riders finished with injuries after falling on a downhill section.
"Before the final kilometre Roger took the lead and that allowed me to attack from behind," said Burghardt.
"In any case, with Freire in our group we didn't have any choice but to try and attack."
1. Markus Burghardt (Germany/T-Mobile) 4 hours 53 min 4 secs
2. Roger Hammond (Britain/T-Mobile) +2 secs
3. Oscar Freire (Spain/Rabobank) +4
4. Francisco Ventoso (Spain/Saunier Duval) same time
5. Christophe Mengin (France/Francaise des Jeux) same time
6. Robbie McEwen (Australia/Predictor-Lotto) +14 secs
7. Max van Heeswijk (Netherlands/Rabobank) same time
8. Baden Cooke (Australia/Unibet.com) same time
9. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spain/Caisse d'Epargne) same time
10. Alexandre Usov (Belarus/AG2R)
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