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Ballan sprints to Flanders victory

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MEERBEKE, Belgium -- Italian Alessandro Ballan narrowly outgunned Belgian Leif Hoste in a spectacular two-man sprint to take the Tour of Flanders race on Sunday.

Ballan broke away from a group of some 40 riders with a strong attack on the Mur de Grammont climb 16 kilometers from the finish, with Hoste joining him shortly after.

The two stayed away to the finish, and at the end of a long sprint, Ballan inched past his rival for his first major Classic win.

"It was a very tight fight." Ballan said. "But I had just enough strength to get past Hoste."

Leading favorite Tom Boonen of Belgium crashed early on, and was unable to respond to Ballan's attack on the Grammont.

Third place went to Italian Luca Paolini.

The race was the second major classic of the season. Oscar Freire won the Milan-San Remo classic two weeks ago.

Ballan covered the 256 kilometers in 7 hours, 10 seconds.

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