André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) won the second stage of the Eneco Tour, between Sint Willebrord, Netherlands and Ardooie, Belgian. The big German outsprinted yesterday’s stage winner Robbie McEwen (Katusha) and defending race champion Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) at the end of the flat, 198.5km stage.
"It was difficult to hold a good position in the bunch and so we decided to wait and hit the front in the final kilometres of the stage when there was a headwind," said Greipel after his victory. "Mark Renshaw dropped me off on Boasson Hagen's wheel just before the tight corner, with 1.5km to go. It was perfect, and I did the rest. I trusted my teammates and they trusted me.
"It's great to get the first win of the race and now anything else is a nice bonus," he added.
The breakaway of the day was formed in the first 10km, as Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen) attacked and was joined by Vitaliy Buts (Lampre-Farnese Vini) and Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi). The peloton allowed them to get away, but the Garmin-Transitions team of race leader Svein Tuft refused to allow the gap to grow too wide.
Nevertheless, as the three leaders passed under the 6.6km Westerscheldetunnel (usually closed to cyclists) after 84km their lead was more than 6 minutes; the gap reached a maximum of 7’35” as the race crossed the border into Belgium with 90km to go.
With 80km to go Team Sky moved forward to assist Garmin-Transitions and the lead began to slowly, but steadily, reduce. With 50km to go the gap was still 4’46 though, and the trio of riders still had a chance to stay away.
At the 40km to go point the lead still stood at 4’03”, prompting Liquigas-Doimo and Rabobank to send men forward to assist the chase. The gap came down considerably, but with crosswinds blowing on the peloton the chase was disrupted slightly as teams brought their leaders forward to avoid any splits that might occur.
With 25km to go, and the lead reduced to just 1 minute, Neirynck attacked his two breakaway companions; Minguez just managed to follow the Belgian, but Buts was spent and was soon caught by the peloton. It was all Minguez could do to hang on to Neirnynck’s wheel though and the Belgian dropped him just before they reached the finish line to start the 15.4km finishing circuit.
Minguez was quickly swept up by the peloton, but Neirinck managed to hang on long enough to cross the line before he too was caught.
With 10km to go Greipel seemed to be disinterested in sprinting, sat at the back of the peloton. Michiel Elijzen (OmegaPharma-Lotto) and Koen De Kort (Skil-Shimano) weren’t keen on a sprint either and tried to escape; they were joined by Matthias Brändle (Footon-Servetto) but were unable to get far, and were quickly caught.
The front of the peloton was under the control of Team Sky, trying to set up Bosson Hagen, but Greipel had made his way forward and was lurking right behind the young Norwegian. As the sprint started the German swept past, making it almost seem easy to take the victory; Boasson Hagen also had to watch McEwen go past him but held on to take third.
With race leader Tuft finishing in the main peloton he holds on to his race lead; time bonuses mean that Boasson Hagen and Greipel are both closing in the Canadian.
Result stage 2
1. André Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia
2. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky
4. Juan Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank
5. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ
6. Enrique Mata (Spa) Footon-Servetto
7. Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step
8. Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
9. Allan Davis (Aus) Team Astana
10. Kenny Dehaes (Bel) OmegaPharma-Lotto
Standings after stage 2
1. Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin-Transitions
2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky @ 3s
3. André Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia @ 4s
4. Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank @ 5s
5. Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank @ 6s