Eneco Tour

Stage 6: Bilzen to Heers, 205.6km/128mi

By Cathy Mehl

The Eneco Tour returned to Belgium on Monday for the next to last stage in this year’s race.   André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) took his second stage win with a strong sprint straight up the middle of the course.  Second and third places on the stage went to Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky.  The overall race lead stayed with Greipel’s teammate Tony Martin, who leads Koos Moerenhout (Rabobank) by 11-seconds.  Third place Boasson-Hagen is well behind at 1:22.

“We don’t have a result behind it, but the team was super good today,” said Team Director Dirk Demol after the stage.  “Ben tried; Rast tried early in the stage.  At the end Tiago went in a group with Stijn Devolder and then at 7K from the finish Gert tried.  Honestly I would have preferred that he waited but it was an impulsive reaction.  When you have good legs you want to attack.  I understand.  With his good legs now, Gert even had a chance against Greipel.  But no worries.  It was a good team today.  Gert also worked hard for our leaders Tiago and Andreas who rode a very attentive race.  When the peloton broke apart, they were always in the front.  For tomorrow I count on a good time trial from them.  They can move up.  The top places are already gone – we can’t do anything against Tony Martin.  I also expect good TTs from Lars Boom, Richie Porte, Boasson Hagen and Tuft.  But Tiago and Andreas will be good too,” he concluded.

Good legs for Gert

Team RadioShack’s Gert Steegmans has continued to improve his form during the race and was particularly active in the final 7km when he put in a strong attack with Boom of Rabobank.  Steegs put plenty of firepower into the effort, opening up a small gap to the main field but the charge was shut down with 2k to go.  Tomas Vaitkus put in a dig of his own just as the field was coming back together, but rolling under the red kite with 1000 meters to go, the group was all together. 

Also active in today’s stage was Team rider Tiago Machado.  Machado and a few others tried hard near 33km to get away and the group built a decent gap to the main field.  But a motivated chasing group continued to nip at their heels and reeled them back at 20km to go. 

Hermans was active during the stage

Team Sky used their train to launch their sprinter Boasson-Hagen at the right time, but Greipel saw the move and made one of his own that secured the win, easily passing last year’s champion to take his second stage victory.

Tuesday’s final stage is a 16.9km/10.5mi time trial to bring the race to a conclusion.  The race against the clock will shake up the classification before determining the final winners in the Eneco Tour.

Top Ten Results

1              André Greipel (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia           5:12:25                   

2              Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto                       

3              Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team                          

4              Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo                                  

5              Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank                      

6              Koen De Kort (Ned) Skil - Shimano                            

7              Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo                                  

8              Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia                                

9              Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Team Katusha                                

10           Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi

Team RadioShack Results

12           Ben Hermans (Bel)

40           Andreas Klöden (Ger)                     

41           Tiago Machado (Por)                       

42           Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)

51           Gregory Rast (Swi)

61           Gert Steegmans (Bel)

DNF       Jason McCartney (USA)

General Classification after Stage 6

1              Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia               28:30:33                

2              Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank        0:00:11  

3              Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Professional Cycling Team         0:01:22  

4              Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin - Transitions      0:01:28  

5              Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank         0:01:31  

6              Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank          0:01:37  

7              Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto      0:01:38  

8              Dominique Cornu (Bel) Skil - Shimano     0:01:41  

9              Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack                0:01:45  

10            Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo

Team RadioShack on General Classification

11           Tiago Machado (Por)  0:01:49

27           Ben Hermans (Bel)  0:03:25

32           Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)  0:05:32

37           Gert Steegmans (Bel)  0:12:58   

47           Gregory Rast (Swi)  0:16:40

Photos courtesy of Graham Watson