Britain's Team Sky dominated the fourth stage of the Eneco Tour today, with Kiwi Greg Henderson notching up the victory with teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen finishing just behind in third. Skil-Shimano's Kenny van Hummel managed to split the two Sky riders and snatch up second place. German Tony Martin held on to his lead in the overall, and maintain his 10 second advantage over Dutchman Koos Moerenhout (Rabobank).
"They gave me a good chance today to show how fast I can be and I'm really happy I could finish it off for them," Henderson said of his team after the race.
"We sat down at the start of the day and made a plan and everyone was committed to that and 100 percent behind it - and it worked out perfectly.
"Edvald actually came up to me yesterday and said 'Thank you for all your help in the previous two days - tomorrow, I want to lead you out in the sprint'. And [Sports Director] Steven de Jongh obviously agreed and said it was a good idea, so that's the plan we played.
"I felt good all day and wanted to show I can sprint a bit. I just kept everyone moving forward at the finish and we got into exactly the position we wanted; so much so that Edvald, who is obviously very fast himself, was able to deliver me and get on the podium himself."
The stage began quickly with the riders covering 51 kilometers in the first hour of racing, with a break of four that included Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha), Andriano Malori (Lampre-Farnese Vini), Jaroslav Maycz (Saxo Bank) and Jeremy Roy (Francaise des Jeux). The quartet was allowed more than nine minutes by the time they reached the halfway point, but the sprinter's teams refused to let the stage win stay up the road.
The peloton began the process of reeling the foursome in and, by the two kilometer mark, Malori represented the last of the foursome to be reintegrated with the race. Team Sky took over at the head of the race, and setup a perfect leadout to seal up what was Henderson's fourth victory the season.
Eneco Tour stage four results:
1. Greg Henderson (Team Sky)
2. Kenny van Hummel (Skil-Shimano)
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky)
4. Alex Rasmussen (Saxo Bank)
5. Robbie McEwen (Katusha)
6. Jürgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
7. Gert Steegmans (RadioShack)
8. Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Doimo)
9. Michael Van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
10. Allan Davis (Astana)
General classification after stage four:
1. Tony Martin (Team HTC-Columbia)
2. Koos Moerenhout (Rabobank) @ 10s
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) @ 1m 24s
4. Svein Tuft (Garmin-Transitions) @ 1m 26s
5. Lars Boom (Rabobank) @ 1m 32s
6. Ritchie Porte (Saxo Bank) @ 1m 35s
7. Dominique Cornu (Skil-Shimano) @ 1m 39s
8. Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) @ 1m 42s
9. Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) @ 1m 43s
10. Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Doimo) s.t.