Eneco Tour

Stage 7: Genk (ITT), 16.8km

By Cathy Mehl

Team RadioShack’s Andreas Klöden took advantage of good legs in the closing time trial at the Eneco Tour and rode well for a ninth place finish on the stage won by race leader Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia).  Klodi’s strong result at 33-seconds off the pace moved him into 8th overall for the final classification.  Martin took the race lead after stage 2 and held the jersey through the remaining stages, stamping his dominance on the race with the win today.  Martin's time of 20:24 was followed by Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) just six seconds behind and Alex Rasmussen of Team Saxo Bank another three seconds back.  For the classification, Martin held 31-seconds over Koos Moerenhout (Rabobank) and a full 1:46 to last year’s champion Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky).  Martin’s win bodes well for the young rider in the upcoming World Championships next month in Australia.

In the early part of the day the best time was set by Rasmussen at 20:33.  Rider-after-rider came in and didn’t come close to the Dutch rider’s time.  Tjallingii started with 20 riders still to go and set a new best time at 20:30. Starting ninth from the end, Klöden’s strong ride put him in fifth for a time, settling finally in 9th. Gert Steegmans, Tiago Machado and Ben Hermans all gave good performances as well.

Team Note:  Another part of the Team is currently racing in France at the Tour International du Poitou Charentes, a five-day stage race that runs today through Saturday.  Team Riders are Fumiyuki Beppu, Markel Irizar, Geoffroy Lequatre, Sérgio Paulinho, Yaroslav Popovych, José Luis Rubiera, Jesse Sergent & Haimar Zubeldia, all directed by Alain Gallopin.

Top Ten Results

1              Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia               0:20:24                   

2              Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Rabobank           0:00:06  

3              Alex Rasmussen (Den) Team Saxo Bank                0:00:09  

4              Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank          0:00:20  

5              Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank                         

6              Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team         0:00:24  

7              Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank                                

8              Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi    0:00:27  

9              Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack                0:00:33  

10            Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin - Transitions      0:00:36

Team RadioShack Results

25           Gert Steegmans (Bel)  0:00:55

29           Tiago Machado (Por)  0:01:01     

33           Ben Hermans (Bel)   0:01:05  

65           Gregory Rast (Swi)  0:01:52 

79           Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)  0:02:11

Final General Classification

1              Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia               28:50:57                

2              Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank        0:00:31  

3              Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team         0:01:46  

4              Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank          0:01:57  

5              Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin - Transitions      0:02:04  

6              Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank         0:02:11  

7              Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Rabobank           0:02:17  

8              Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack                0:02:18  

9              Dominique Cornu (Bel) Skil - Shimano     0:02:35  

10            Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto      0:02:37

Team RadioShack on Final General Classification

12           Tiago Machado (Por)  0:02:50

26           Ben Hermans (Bel)   0:04:30        

31           Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)  0:07:43 

35           Gert Steegmans (Bel)   0:13:53  

45           Gregory Rast (Swi)  0:18:32

Photos courtesy of Graham Watson