Intro:

Germany's Marcel Kittel won his third successive Scheldeprijs - a one-day classic race - in Belgium on Wednesday.

Script:

The 2014 Scheldeprijs started with a moment's silence for Rene Mertens on Wednesday - the winner of this Flanders Classic race in 1947.

The Belgian had been the oldest surviving Scheldeprijs champion before passing away at the age of 92.

A six-man breakaway group formed 10 kilometres into the 200.9-kilometre course from Antwerp, that culminated with three laps of a 16.4-kilometre loop around Schoten.

The progress of the pack was halted at one stage as they were stuck at a train crossing.

They stayed clear of the main group of riders though and led by as much as six minutes at one stage, until their advantage was gradually eroded by the peloton.

With the lead down to 45 seconds with seven kilometres to go, Luke Rowe of Team Sky attacked the rest of the breakaway group and pulled clear.

The Brit only held the race lead for three kilometres before he was caught and passed by Andrea Fedi.

However, Fedi's own period at the front was also short-lived - the Italian caught by the peloton with two-and-a-half kilometres to go.

That set up a bunch sprint for the finish line, which made Marcel Kittel the overwhelming favourite.

The German Team Giant-Shimano rider duly claimed victory - his third in succession at the Scheldeprijs - out-sprinting American Tyler Farrar, Danny van Poppel of the Netherlands and Italy's Alessandro Petacchi.