Aidis Kruopis wins second stage and Philippe Gilbert takes overall lead in 2011 Tour of Belgium
Landbouwkrediet team’s Aidis Kruopis won second stage of 2011 Tour of Belgium on Friday May 27. The race started in Knokke and ended at Heist.
The 24-year-old, Kruopis took a total of 4 hours, 21 minutes and 41 seconds to cover the distance of 187.8 kilometres.
The group of 58 cyclists cross the finish-line with the same timing of Aidis. Stefan Van Dijk of Veranda’s Willems-Accent was in the second place and Pim Ligthart finished third.
After winning the stage, Aidis told the media, "This victory is unexpected and makes me doubly happy," said the 24-year-old. "It was very hard today. During the two climbs of Kemmelberg I did not feel so good. In the end however, I was ideally placed. I
could hide on Boonen's wheel until 100 meters to go. A perfect scenario."
Previously, Aidis won Tour of Waasland and grabbed the third place in Classic Handy. He also took fifth place in Rund um Koln.
After 6 kilometres, the group of five riders made their first breakaway including, Marcus Burghardt , Jens Mouris, Niko Eeckhout, Koen Barbe and Luca Paolini .
All of them piled together and constructed a lead of four minutes. Niko Eeckhout won the first sprint of the race ahead of Luca Paolini and Jens Mouris.
The break’s gap was down after 22 kilometres, when Gilbert passed away and took the race-lead. In the final kilometres, the top favourites were in the front of the group.
After 8 kilometres, the break allowed Jelle Wallays of Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator to go away, but Skil-Shimano team was in good form and tried his best to bring him back in the last two kilometres.
In the last 100 metres, Tom Boonen of Quick step was in good form and had apparently had enough stamina, but unfortunately lost to Kruopis. He grabbed the seventh place in the stage. With the help of his team Kruopis cross the finish-line ahead of other
riders.
Kruopis said, "I stayed behind Boonen for as long as possible before putting everything into the last 100 metres to the line, I did not think I would be able to beat him. It’s amazing."
Philippe Gilbert took a overall lead with the timing of 8 hours, 6 minutes and 29 seconds. Andre Greipel was runner-up with one second behind Philippe.
The next stage will start in Bertem and end in Eupen. All the riders will cover a distance of 202 kilometres.
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