Eneco Tour

Stage 3:  Ronse (Belgium), 191.8 km/119mi

By Cathy Mehl

A challenging day of 18 climbs was on course today for 164 riders in the third stage of the Eneco Tour.  Riding some of the cobbled sectors made famous in the Spring Classics, including twice over the 2km Oude Kwaremont, a decisive breakaway under 40km to go put a strong pair of riders in the driver’s seat to battle for the win.  With 300m to go Rabobank’s Koos Moerenhout came around Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) to nab the win on the finish line, with almost a minute and a half passing before Allan Davis (Astana) sprinted from the group for third.  But Martin was a winner too, as the German rider took over the leader’s jersey with four stages remaining to race.  Martin leads by ten seconds over Moerenhout and a full 1:26 ahead of former leader Svein Tuft (Garmin).

Team RadioShack riders were active in the chasing group with Ben Hermans, Tiago Machado and Andreas Klöden putting plenty of fire power into the action.  All three came to the line in the Davis sprinting group with Tomas Vaitkus just a handful of seconds later.   Klöden and Machado are in 11th and 12th on the overall and The Shack is third in the Teams competition.

The great quantity of climbs on the day caused many splits in the peloton and tired legs took a toll on some of the guys, including The Shack’s Sébastien Rosseler who dropped out mid-race. The twosome out front topped the Kwaremont with more than a minute in hand.  Once the chasing group arrived, Edvald Boasson-Hagen of Team Sky put in a sterling attack, flying off the front in hopes of chasing down the front runners.  It looked good for awhile for the defending champion but eventually he cracked and was caught by the main field, assuring either Moerenhout or Martin the victory. Moerenhout was attentive and timed his jump to perfection to take the win.

Steegmans on the move

Stage 4 on Saturday is 214.4km/133mi from St-Lievens-Houtem (Bel) to Roermond (Ned) and should be another day for the sprinters. 

Team Note:  Sunday is the one-day UCI Pro-Tour race, the Grand Prix Ouest-France Plouay in France.  The riders are: Matthew Busche, Daryl Impey, Markel Irizar, Geoffroy Lequatre, Sérgio Paulinho, Yaroslav Popovych, Ivan Rovny & Haimar Zubeldia and the boys will be directed by Alain Gallopin.

Top Ten Results

1              Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank        4:35:51                   

2              Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia                                

3              Allan Davis (Aus) Astana               0:01:24  

4              Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team                          

5              Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto                       

6              Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator                    

7              Gorka Izaguirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi                                

8              José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                          

9              Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team                            

10            Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Team Katusha

Team RadioShack Results

15           Ben Hermans (Bel)

19           Andreas Klöden (Ger)

22           Tiago Machado (Por)

30           Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)  0:01:37 

55           Gregory Rast (Swi)  0:12:38                           

56           Gert Steegmans (Bel)   

143         Jason McCartney (USA) 0:20:54

DNF       Sébastien Rosseler (Bel)

General Classification after Stage 3

1              Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia               13:45:31                

2              Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank        0:00:10  

3              Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin - Transitions      0:01:26  

4              Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team         0:01:28  

5              Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank         0:01:32  

6              Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank          0:01:35  

7              Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram         0:01:37  

8              José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne         0:01:39  

9              Dominique Cornu (Bel) Skil - Shimano                      

10            Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto      0:01:42

Team RadioShack on General Classification

11           Andreas Klöden (Ger)   0:01:43

12           Tiago Machado (Por)  0:01:47

33           Ben Hermans (Bel)   0:03:01 

35           Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)  0:03:10 

54           Gert Steegmans (Bel)  0:12:56 

64           Gregory Rast (Swi)  0:14:18         

138         Jason McCartney (USA)  0:24:13                                               

Photos courtesy of Graham Watson