Tour of Belgium

Team RadioShack’s Sébastien Rosseler suffers from a small avulsion fracture of the dice bone in his left hand as well as from bruises of the right shoulder. Rosseler was hit by a car on his training ride between Liège and Tongeren (Belgium).  He will not be able to put pressure on his wrist for at least 14 days.

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.

Tour of Belgium
Stage 4 (ITT): Tijdrit Herzele 16.7km/10.3mi
By Cathy Mehl

Belgian rider Dominique Cornu of Skil-Shimano took the best time against the clock in Saturday’s individual time trial, gaining the leader’s jersey in the process after the fourth stage of the Tour of Belgium.  It was the traditional time trial route in Tijdrit Herzele for the Belgian tour, but moved up a day to build more suspense on the classification.  Koos Moerenhout of Rabobank was second and Belgian Stijn Devolder (Quick Step) took third, both at four-seconds back.

Tour of Belgium
Stage 3: Knokke-Heist to Mechelen, 192.2km/119mi
By Cathy Mehl
Things continue to improve for Team RadioShack’s Gert Steegmans as he finds his form and starts to enjoy racing again after a frightening crash in Paris-Nice.  Teammates Tomas Vaitkus and Geoffroy Lequatre established a nice train for Steegmans in the last 5km and went really hard for him. Today’s stage ended in a mass sprint, with Birthday Boy Jimmy Casper taking his 50th career win on his 32nd birthday.  Philippe Gilbert (Omega Lotto-Pharma) remains in the leader’s jersey.  Vaitkus remains in third place for the classification.

Tour of Belgium, Stage 2
By: Chris Brewer
 
Another treacherous day for the riders contesting the Tour of Belgium as the peloton hurtled en masse to the finish line.  An early breakaway of Niko Eeckhout, Gregory Habeaux and Benjamin Gourgue was neutralized with 12km to go. Team Vacansoleil worked hard to get a mass sprint but their sprinter Borut Bozic was beaten by Skil-Shimano’s Kenny Van Hummel, winner of the first stage in the 2010 Tour of Picardy.
 
“This finish was really too dangerous for me”, commented The Shack’s Gert Steegmans, still on the rebound from a broken collarbone in Paris-Nice. “The roads were too narrow in the last kilometers, I cannot jeopardize my season again. My condition is growing and I hope to show very soon that I can win again and be a candidate for the Tour de France.  Sébastien Rosseler guided me to the front, but I told him not to press on any more, it was just too dangerous.”

Tour of Belgium, Stage 1
By: Chris Brewer
  
Belgian strongman Phillipe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) won a 5-man sprint to the line in wet conditions, topping Rony Martias (Saur-Sojasun) and Team RadioShack’s Tomas Vaitkus.  165 riders took to the line in Eeklo, NW of Brussels near Brugge, in pretty miserable conditions (12C / 54F and steady rain).  It took over an hour before seven riders went off the front – essentially the day’s winning move – and the small, powerful pack was able to hold off a final charge by Team Quick Step to contest the final run.  Gilbert attacked twice on the way to the line but was brought back each time, yet still had enough gas to edge Martias at the line.

The Team line-up for the next race:
Tour of Belgium (Bel), May 26-30, 2010
Riders: Fumiyuki Beppu, Matthew Busche, Ben Hermans, Markel Irizar, Geoffroy Lequatre, Sébastien Rosseler, Gert Steegmans & Tomas Vaitkus
Director: Dirk Demol