Eneco Tour half-time recap
The Eneco Tour of Benelux began with a 5.2km prologue on 17 August and ends on 24 August with a 16.9km individual time-trial. With only two mountain stages, the Tour favours sprinters and time-trial specialists. As of the end of the third stage, the halfway point, HTC-Columbia rider Tony Martin stands as the race leader, 10 ahead of Koos Moerenhout and 1:26 ahead of Svein Tuft, who is trailed by two seconds by Edvald Boasson Hagen.
The prologue of the eight-day race was won by Tuft, of Team Garmin-Transitions, in 6:18, the Canadian’s first career ProTour victory, five seconds ahead of Rabobank’s Jos Van Emden.
"I had a feeling I could do a ride today," said Tuft. "I was going to take risks and give it everything but I didn't expect to win by that much. I'm really happy because this is my first ProTour win."
Record-setting veteran sprinter Robbie McEwen won the first stage with a sprint finish in Rhenen, Netherlands. The 38-year-old Team Katusha rider overtook Sky’s Boasson Hagen before the finish line, but Tuft maintained the lead. The 198km stage two crossed out of the Netherlands to finish in Ardoorie in Belgium. Martin’s HTC-Columbia teammate André Greipel won the stage thanks to some well-timed teamwork.
"It was pretty dangerous to try and keep position in the bunch so we decided with the team to wait until six kilometres to go before moving up. It worked really well," said Greipel.
The 191.8km stage three, on Friday, was won by Moerenhout for team Rabobank. He and Martin took the opportunity of the first hilly stage to make their mark, with Martin taking the leader’s jersey from Tuft and Moerenhout finished ahead of the former leader to leave him in third place overall. The pair finish 1:24 ahead, with Astana’s Allan Davis leading the chasers for a third place win.
Saturday will take the riders into one more flat stage before the mountains of the fifth and sixth stages. The 214.4km stage four crosses the line back into the Netherlands after a couple days in Belgium, and will more-than-likely host a sprint to the finish line in Roermond.
In its sixth edition, the Eneco Tour is bookended by two individual time-trials, favouring a time-trial specialist for the win. The first four stages are mostly flat, with stage six climbing deep into the Ardennes. Friday’s stage three will be a hilly classics route, and stage five will warm up the riders for the Ardennes with a succession of short and steep climbs that will slow the sprinters.
Boasson Hagen, the defending champion is backed up by Team Sky riders Michael Barry and Geraint Thomas, but any number of teams have a shot at the podium. McEwen is arguably the best sprinter in the race, though HTC-Columbia is being led by Greipel and Mark Renshaw, a strong team in both sprints and time-trials.
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