Niko Eeckhout (Photo: capture-the-peloton.com)

AARTSELAAR, Sep 6 (CP) - Belgian national champion Niko Eeckhout has won the Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen. In a sprint he was faster than Robbie McEwen and Steffen Radochla. On Wednesday the riders had to complete a 200km long parcours with the start and finish in Aartselaar. 50km before the finish line a group of more or less forty riders escaped from the peloton and was never caught back by the rest of the pack. In the last fifteen kilometres several riders tried to leave their fellow escapees behind to go for a solo victory, but none of them succeeded. In the final sprint Chocolade Jacques' Niko Eeckhout was launched by a teammate and easily outsprinted Australian Robbie McEwen and Steffen Radochla, winner of the Belgian race in 2002, to take his eight victory of this season. Race results: 1. Niko Eeckhout (Bel-JAC) 4h14'20" 2. Robbie McEwen (Aus-DVL) s.t. 3. Steffen Radochla (Ger-WIE) s.t. 4. Marco Zanotti (Ita-UNI) s.t. 5. Danilo Hondo (Ger-TLM) s.t. 6. Hilton Clarke (Aus-NIC) s.t. 7. Nick Nuyens (Bel-QSI) s.t. 8. Bart Veyt (Bel-FLA) s.t. 9. Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel-JAC) s.t. 10. Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel-RB3) s.t. Results by Jeroen Michiels

© Erik van Wijk