One day left in Eneco Tour
HTC-Columbia dominated Monday’s stage six of the Eneco Tour, with the stage win going to André Greipel and the overall leadership in the hands of Tony Martin. Going through the Ardennes, stage six was one of the most difficult of the race, but no other team could shake HTC-Columbia.
"It wasn't an easy day, but I won," said Greipel. "On the last climb I was really struggling and went over the top in last place. However I managed to get back on and with 800 metres to go I decided to give it a go. It worked and that makes it a special victory. It's my 18th win of the season and boosts my confidence for the world championships. My form is good and I hope to hold until October."
Greipel supported Martin throughout the stage and still managed to cross the finish line first, ahead of Jurgen Roelandts and Edvald Boasson Hagen. Martin finished the stage in tenth and added one second to his lead over the runner-up, Koos Moerenhout. The Dutch race leader is targeting the victory as a swan-song to a long cycling career, which ends with the season and Martin’s retirement. Martin is a proven time-trialist, so he should have no problem holding on to the jersey in the final stage on Tuesday, an individual time-trial.
The hectic second stage was won by 21-year-old Jack Bobridge of team Garmin-Transitions. Team Sky has been counting on Sunday’s stage to shake-up Tony Martin’s lead and give Edvald Boasson Hagen, the defending champion, a chance to take the leader’s jersey. He entered the stage 1:24 behind Martin, but his attack on the Dooedeman climb fell flat compared to the strong HTC-Columbia teamwork.
"We were aiming to isolate Tony Martin and then try and do something late on with Edvald. The boys did a really good job,” said Sky director Steven de Jongh. "But Columbia came back pretty quickly and with about sixty kilometres to go we realised they just had too many riders still there in support of Martin. So at that point we decided to let them do the work to get the break back.”
The stage also suffered from a crash which left Christian Knees of Team Milram needing 15 stitches around his eye and having to drop out of the Tour. He gave up a good general classification standing, having entered stage five in seventh place overall, only 13 seconds behind Boasson Hagen.
“Two riders tangled right in front of me and forced me head first into a traffic island. In the crash I received a lot of cuts around my eye and I had to get 15 stitches,” he said. “Our doctor says that I can be back on the bike in three days.”
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