Sylvain Chavanel won the 13.2km time trial in stage five of the Eneco Tour, putting up a time of 16’04”. The French time trial champion faced a 24-second deficit to overall leader Lars Boom (Belkin) entering the stage. When the Dutch returning champion came through last with a 16’24”, it meant that he would hang onto his overall lead, which is now four seconds over Chavanel.
Chavanel knocked Jesse Sergent (Radioshack-Leopard) off the top of the leaderboard, when it looked like the Kiwi had set the time to beat by topping Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling), who had set the early best mark.
Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano) came through after Chavanel, four seconds behind the Frenchman, and fractions ahead of Sergent. Dumoulin finished second on the stage, with Sergent third and Sebastian Langeveld (Orica-GreenEdge) fourth. Wiggins rounded out the top five.
Even though it is now just four seconds, Boom actually extended his advantage in the overall by finishing tenth in the time trial. He had previously been nursing a one-second lead over Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), and with the sprinter dropping away in the GC after the time trial, it is now Chavanel in second overall.
Dumoulin began the stage even on time with Chavanel, and is third in the GC.
"My objective was to try to win," Chavanel said afterward. "There were a lot of good time trialists here, but honestly I was stressed waiting for Lars Boom at the finish line, but fortunately everything went well. This is my third TT win after Driedaagse van de Panne and the National Championship so I'm really happy, even more because the level of the competitors was really high. For me the parcour was perfect — really technical with a lot of corners. After the recon this morning I understood that I could have won, so I stayed focused on the race and I made it.
"Now I'm second in the GC. I said since the beginning that in the first stages it would have been important to not lose any seconds. I managed to stay always in the front, I did a good time trial, and now I'm looking forward to the next two stages. I'm in good condition and I really would like to do well in this race where I was already second twice; 2012 and 2009. But we also have Stybar in good GC position, after his victory in Stage 3 and a good performance in the ITT today. We also have Niki Terpstra, who knows this race really well. We have a good collective and because of that we can also play tactically."
With his sights set on the Eneco Tour time trial all along, as another checkpoint on his way to the world time trial championships, Wiggins clocked the best early time of the day. Although unlike in the Tour of Poland final time trial, which the British rider won, the time of 16’13” didn’t seem completely out of reach. Manuele Boaro (Saxo-Tinkoff) sat second best at 16’32”, with Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge) and Martin Tjallingii (Belkin) just behind the Italian.
Daniele Bennati (Saxo-Tinkoff) quietly grabbed the new second best time from his team-mate, before Australian time trial champ Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge) came through one tick faster. Eloy Teruel (Movistar) clocked a solid time, as most attention was turned to Sergent and team-mate Bob Jungels, as well as Dutch champion Liuewe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) on course.
The intermediate time check was situated just before the 8km mark, and Sergent swept through ten seconds quicker than Wiggins – a great time no doubt, although the British champion often goes quicker in the second half of a race against the clock. But Sergeant, who won the 14km time trial in the Eneco Tour two years ago, held his pace to the finish. The New Zealander stopped the clock at 16’08”, giving him a mark five seconds quicker than Wiggins.
Westra had a strong second half, finishing in 16’21” for third best at the time. Nicki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) came home to hearty cheers from the home crowd, putting up the fifth best time. But then both he and Westra were knocked back a spot as Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) put up the third best mark, ten seconds back of Sergent.
Andriy Grivko (Astana) was the next man through to put up a solid time, 14 seconds down on Sergent. Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge) continued to flash good form, with the Tour of Poland champ putting up a 16’30”. But next up was Chavanel, who was three ticks quicker than Sergent at the intermediate check. The French champion extended his advantage by another second, putting up his 16’04”, four seconds clear of Sergent.
Dumoulin was through next, finishing second, as the next man to threaten the top of the classification took to the road, in Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing), along with team-mate Philippe Gilbert.
Phinney seemed to be moving well, getting frown faces from the local speed indicators, as the American blazed past at 65 kilometres per hour. And Phinney put in a good effort, believing the shorter course would be suitable to him, but in the end, his 16’15” would earn him sixth best at the finish. Gilbert didn’t threaten, nor did Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).
Boom was the only man left, perhaps not riding as well as he had hoped, with his 16’24”. But the effort was enough to retain the white jersey, with two weekend stages left.
Eneco Tour Stage 5 Brief Results:
1, Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) in 16’04”
2, Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano) at 4”
3, Jesse Sergent (Radioshack-Leopard) at 4”
4, Sebastian Langeveld (Orica-GreenEdge) at 6”
5, Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling) at 9”
6, Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) at 11”
7, Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) at 14”
8, Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) at 17”
9, Andriy Grivko (Astana) at 18”
10, Lars Boom (Belkin) at 20”
General Classification after stage 5:
1, Lars Boom (Belkin) at 16hr22’39”
2, Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) at 4”
3, Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano) at 8”
4, Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) at 8”
5, Sebastian Langeveld (Orica-GreenEdge) at 10”
6, Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) at 18”
7, Andriy Grivko (Astana) at 23”
8, Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) at 24”
9, Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) 25”
10, Ian Stannard (Sky Procycling) 26”