Tour of Belgium

Stage 5: Herstal, 173km/107mi

By Cathy Mehl and Philippe Maertens

Team Radio Shack’s Ben Hermans took the victory in the last stage of the Tour of Belgium, a stage with 14 climbs, including the Liège-Bastogne-Liège climbs of  Côte de la Redoute and Mont Theux. The Belgian rider preceded Stijn Devolder who took the overall victory. With 17 K to go, both riders escaped from a select group of seven riders which included Team RadioShack’s Geoffroy Lequatre, Philippe Gilbert, Thomas De Gendt and former world champions Philipp Walsleben and Oscar Freire.  The final general classification podium was Devolder, Dominique Cornu (Skil – Shimano) and Bram Tankink of  Rabobank.  Hermans was best-placed rider for The Shack with sixth on the overall.

“Maybe that was his luck,” added an optimistic Team Director Dirk Demol. “If Ben would not have lost those precious seconds, Devolder maybe would never have allowed Hermans company till the end. Moreover I prefer a stage victory to a say third place on the final podium. This is all good. Yesterday I was not happy. Without that thunderstorm in the time trial, Vaitkus would have been in the leader’s jersey today. Sometimes you have bad luck, sometimes you win and Ben deserves this. He is a talented rider who impressed everyone in the Critérium International earlier this year. When I saw Devolder’s intentions, I told Ben to focus on him. An unchained Devolder never fails. Hats off to Geoffroy Lequatre too. He was in the attack after 18 km of racing.  He worked hard until the end and even took the fourth spot in the stage. We may not complain.”

Top Ten Results

1              Ben Hermans (Bel) Team Radioshack      4:24:03                   

2              Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step                  

3              Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto         0:00:48  

4              Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Team Radioshack                            

5              Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator                               

6              Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Bkcp - Powerplus                             

7              Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank                  

8              Dominique Cornu (Bel) Skil - Shimano                      

9              Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank                        

10            Nick Nuyens (Bel) Rabobank       0:01:22

Team RadioShack Results

55           Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) 0:06:32

59           Matthew Busche (USA)                                 

60           Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa)

76           Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)

DNF       Gert Steegmans (Bel)

Final General Classification

1              Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step                  16:35:55                

2              Dominique Cornu (Bel) Skil - Shimano     0:00:52  

3              Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank 0:01:00  

4              Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto         0:01:11  

5              Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator              0:01:22  

6              Ben Hermans (Bel) Team Radioshack      0:01:23  

7              Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank        0:01:39  

8              Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank       0:01:40  

9              Nick Nuyens (Bel) Rabobank                        

10            Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Saur - Sojasun            0:01:50

Team RadioShack on Final General Classification

13           Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra)   0:01:55

30           Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)   0:06:50      

36           Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa)   0:07:06      

37           Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn)   0:07:12