The 2010 edition of E3 Harelbeke – as the E3 Saxo Classic was called back then –looked to be rolling towards a familiar denouement when Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellara and Juan Antonio Flecha approached the outskirts of town after having forged clear on the Paterberg 40km or so earlier. Boonen had already won the race four times in a row between 2004 and 2007, and a three-up sprint and another Tommeke triumph seemed inevitable here.
In hindsight, it was the moment E3 Harelbeke went electric.
