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Belgium's Stijn Devolder rode clear to secure his second successive Tour of Flanders victory in a race expertly controlled by his Quick Step team.

The 29-year-old attacked on the penultimate cobblestoned climb of the day, the Muur-Kapelmuur, before using his time-trial skills to open out an insurmountable lead over the final 10km of the race following the final ascent of the Bosberg.

Raising both hands to the sky in reference to his back-to-back victories in the prestigious one-day spring classic, Devolder rode over the line alone to the delight of the home crowd, basking under the uncharacteristically warm Belgian April sun.

Germany's Henrich Haussler of the Cervelo Test Team broke clear of the bunch to take second place almost one minute adrift, while Silence-Lotto's Philippe Gilbert ensured a double Belgian hue to the podium with a hard-fought third place after a mass pile-up in the peloton brought down, amongst others, Cervelo's Thor Hushovd.

Devolder's victory in the 93rd Ronde van Vlaanderen means he equals compatriot and team-mate Tom Boonen's extraordinary recent feat of winning the race in consecutive years.

Boonen, who finished in the main bunch after showing his strength earlier in the day with a brutal turn of pace on the notorious Koppenberg ascent and the subsequent Taaienberg uphill cobble section, won the race in 2005 and 2006.

The result of Boonen's blistering attacks was to nullify the treat posed by the much-favoured Italian, Filippo Pozzato of Team Katusha, and to help rein in the three-time Flanders runner-up, Belgian Leif Hoste of Silence-Lotto.

With another Quick Step rider, Sylvain Chavanel, riding ahead of the chasing pack alongside Hoste and looking strong, the scene was perfectly set for Devolder to make his move towards the end of the gruelling 260-km race, which weaves through the Belgian countryside via 16 climbs, many of which are perilously narrow and covered in jagged cobble stones.

One of the victims of the terrain was CSC Saxo Bank's Fabian Cancellara, who broke his chain on the Koppenberg and was unable to continue the race after it emerged his team support car was too far behind for him to change his bike in sufficient time to mount a serious challenge.

While Chavanel rode ahead alongside Hoste in a group of seven riders one-and-a-half-minutes up the road, Devolder played second fiddle as Boonen's successive bursts of pace tired the team's rivals.

Hoste looked to have pulled off a coup by being part of the breakaway which had formed before the Koppenberg. But the presence of Chavanel was a decisive factor ahead of Devolder's counter-attack, which occurred on the penultimate climb of the day after the pursuing pack had almost reeled in the escapees.

Only Chanavel, Italy's Manuel Quinziato (Liquigas) and the unheralded Belgian Preben Van Hecke of the Topsport Vlaanderen team were able to stay in touch with Devolder's surge.

But once Devolder opened up a gap, Quinzatio was left frustrated when Chavanel naturally refused to help the chase, the Italian at one moment turning round to chastise the Frenchman for his apparent lack of effort.

The three were swept up by the peloton with less than one kilometre left to ride, but by then Devolder had already sewn up a historic victory in what was a near carbon copy of his victory in 2008, where he broke clear towards the end to win by 15 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

Devolder dedicated his win to compatriot Fredereik Nolf, the young Topsport Vlanderen rider who was found dead in his hotel room during the Tour of Qatar in February.

Haussler capped his second-place in Milan Sanremo with a trademark solo rush to the line to secure the runner-up berth, 58 seconds off the pace, unaware that behind him the peloton had been ripped apart after his team-mate Hushovd touched shoulders with an Astana rider, creating havoc as bikes and bodies ploughed into one another on the right of the finishing straight.

It was a painful end to what is considered one of the most arduous one-day races in the calendar, only to be outdone in the difficulty stakes by next Sunday's cobble-clad bonanza, the Paris-Roubaix.

Felix Lowe / Eurosport