World champ gets first Ster Elektrotoer title, Boom and Roelandts round out podium
Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) took his second stage of the race, locking up the points jersey in the process, but it was Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling) who took the overall win in the Ster ZLM Toer on Sunday. The Manx Missile didn’t win a stage, but was the most consistent finisher. In winning the race formerly known as Ster Elektrotoer, he also clocked up the first overall victory of his pro career.
Stage three winner Lars Boom (Rabobank) was second overall, and Jürgen Roelandts announced his comeback from injury with a solid third place finish.
It was the way Cavendish got over the rolling terrain of the four stages that had many impressed, just as did Kittel’s raw top end speed. On the final stage, Kittel was faster than Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Roelandts, who finished second and third on the final stage respectively. Kittel’s victory over Renshaw meant that the final sprinter’s green jersey changed hands, from Renshaw to the German.
“I was very strong today,” Kittel stated. “The guys from my team have ridden very well. There is not better preparation for the Tour de France available out there.”
He was delighted, but so too Cavendish, who clocked up an important milestone in his career. "I’ve been second a couple of times in the past but this is my first GC win and I'm really, really happy with it,” he said.
"The team rode so well yesterday, setting such a high tempo on the front that guys were going out the back all day. We were down to just 25 at the finish - it was incredible and I’m really proud of what we did.
"In today's final stage there was a dangerous Katusha guy [Aliaksandr Kuchynski] up the road in the break at just one minute back on the GC but we managed to bring it all back together. The calibre of some of the sprinters here is incredibly high and while I couldn’t quite get a win today it was about making sure I kept the yellow jersey. I’m really happy."
A total of 132 riders got underway in Schinjdel, bound for Boxtel after covering 163 kilometers. With no mountain points on tap, Nelson Oliveira (Radioshack-Nissan) was guaranteed the polka dot jersey upon his completion of the stage.
In a hectic first hour, a breakaway of Iljo Keisse (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Aleksandr Kuchynski (Katusha) and André Schultze (Team NetApp) found a gap, inspiring Greg Henderson (Lotto-Belisol) and Dries Hollanders (Metec Continental) to go after them. The duo made it across but Schultze lost the group, which meant that four men were away after ten kilometers of racing.
The bunch covered 47 kilometers in the first hour, so the peloton was soon happy to settle in, and the gap to the escape grew to 2’30”. Team Sky, Rabobank, and Argos-Shimano all split time on the front of the peloton.
With 20km to go, the bunch hit the line in Boxtel for the first time, and the gap to the break was down to 25 seconds. Keisse and Kuchynski soon gave up the ghost, but Henderson and Hollanders pushed on until ten kilometers remained, when they too sat up.
Rabobank and Argos-Shimano controlled toward the finish, but it was Kittel who came through, as the German was victorious in the man-up sprint with the Australian. The win was Kittel’s seventh of the season, in a year that is proving to be well stocked with sprinters.
A number of fast men showed positively in the Ster ZLM Toer, beginning with Cavendish and Kittel. But along with them, Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) won a stage and Renshaw was a consistent finisher as well. Factor in Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and without a doubt, the race for the points jersey in the Tour de France is shaping up to be a battle.