Emphasising his status as the king of the Ardennes, Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) won the third stage of the Eneco Tour between Heers and Andenne, after an attack on the penultimate climb of the day. The Belgian champion took yet another solo victory, the third for his team in the race after two consecutive wins from André Greipel, eight seconds ahead of the first chasing group.
The chasers were led over the line by Slovenian champion Grega Bole (Lampre-ISD), with Ben Hermans (RadioShack) in third. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky), Gilbert’s rival for the overall classification, could only manage ninth and so missed out on the bonus seconds on the line. With race leader Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) finishing in the second group, Gilbert takes over the race lead.
"It's super to win a stage of the Eneco Tour,” said Gilbert afterwards. “Every victory in the WorldTour is very important, and it’s even better to take the overall lead; even if I do not expect to stay in white after the time trial on Friday.
“I expect to lose 2 to 3 seconds per kilometre,” he explained. “It will be very difficult; for me, David Millar [Garmin-Cervélo] and Edvald Boasson Hagen are the two super-favourites."
The Belgian champion will nevertheless do all he can in the 14.7km test, and sees opportunities to possibly take back the jersey before the race is over.
“I will do my best to try to limit the damage,” he said. “On Sunday there’s still a difficult stage that may allow me to take time on the others.
“In any case I have a great team,” he added. “They all did a great job again."
After the previous day’s stage on the roads of the cobbled Flemish classics, the 191km fourth stage headed south to the Ardennes and many of the climbs tackled in la Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Included among the climbs of the day were the fearsome Mur du Huy, after 89km, before a long finishing circuit would see the peloton tackle the Chemin des Gueuses, the Côte de Saint-Roch, La Flîme and the Côte des Aguesses twice each; the last of those was to come less than two kilometres from the finish.
The early part of the stage was to follow the familiar pattern as Julien Fouchard (Cofidis), Alex Rasmussen (HTC-Highroad), Stefan Van Dijk (Verandas Willems-Accent) and Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano) escaped after 27km. Between them they were able to build a maximum lead of 9’40” before the combined forces of Gilbert’s Omega Pharma-Lotto team and race leader Taylor Phinney’s BMC Racing Team began to pull them back.
As the four leaders crossed the finish line to start the 61km loop, having tackled all of the climbs once, they led the peloton by just four minutes. This began to tumble on the rolling roads as Team Sky began to add its weight to the chase and the race entered the final 50km. On a steep, unclassified climb with 43km to go the gap fell to just two minutes and, with 35km to go – as Jens Mouris (Vacansoleil-DCM) was having his arm bandaged after a crash – it dropped below a minute.
On the Chemin des Gueuses, with 28km to go, Van Dijk and Veelers dropped the other two riders; meanwhile, behind them Leopard Trek began to mass at the front of the peloton. Fouchard and Rasmussen were both caught within a few kilometres, but the two Dutchmen persisted in their apparently doomed enterprise.
With 20km to go Van Dijk and Veelers were in sight of the peloton, just 22 seconds ahead on a long straight road. With 17km to go it was all over, as Omega Pharma-Lotto began to assert itself on the approach to the Côte de Saint-Roch; the peloton was led on the approach to the climb by sprinter Greipel, who’d won the previous two stages.
A number of riders tried to get away on the climb, but none was allowed to do so by Omega Pharma-Lotto, so it was a surprise when Boasson Hagen managed to pip Gilbert on the line to take the sprint over the top and the three bonus seconds.
Gorka Izaguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) took advantage of the lull following the sprint to jump away over the top of the climb. The Basque was able to get a few seconds clear but, with a long, flattish section to cover on the approach to La Flîme, it was too much for one rider to stay clear. He was reeled back in by the Garmin-Cervélo led peloton a few metres after passing under the 10km to go banner.
Brazilian champion Murilo Fischer led onto the base of the climb, with his Garmin-Cervélo team, as well as Omega Pharma-Lotto, massing behind him. Linus Gerdemann (Leopard Trek) briefly left the front of the peloton, but once there he didn’t seem to know what to do; after looking over his shoulder the German dropped back in as Gilbert’s team took over.
Jelle Vanendert was now on the front with Gilbert tucked in behind him. The winner from the Plateau de Beille in the Tour de France was winding up the pace for his captain now and the peloton was splintering behind him. Up to this point Phinney had been clearly visible, close to the front of the bunch, but, as Vanendert’s pace pulled a group of less than ten riders clear, the young American wasn’t there.
With 7km to go, and less than a kilometre from the top, the inevitable happened and Gilbert attacked. David Millar tried to chase but the Belgian champion was away, just as he had been in the Ardennes classics back in April.
“I knew he was gonna go, he even told me when and where, I still couldn't do anything when he did,” the former British champion wrote on his Twitter feed afterwards. “The joys of racing against Phil Gilbert.”
With 5km to go Gerdemann countered, but Gilbert was 17 seconds clear by now. Hermans and Boasson Hagen were right behind him; as it regrouped though Michael Barry (Team Sky) team took the front to try to pull back Gilbert.
With 4km to go Gilbert had 19 seconds but, with a false flat before the final climb to the Côte des Aguesses, he had been pegged back to 12 seconds with 3km to go. Dries Devenyns (Quick Step) jumped after the Belgian champion, but he was still well clear with 2km to go and, into the final kilometre his lead seemed to be growing once more.
Gilbert sprinted right to the line to try to take as much time as possible, only lifting his hands from the bars to celebrate once he had crossed the line. Behind him Bole outsprinted the rest, ahead of Hermans, after eight seconds. Ten seconds for the victory, with Boasson Hagen missing out on the top three, meant that the Belgian champion was just waiting for the arrival of Phinney to see whether he would take the race lead.
Phinney led the next group over 37 seconds back, which was not enough to hold his race lead, and Gilbert took the white jersey – with its red bubbles – five seconds clear of Boasson Hagen and 13 seconds ahead of Millar.
Result stage 3
1. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
2. Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre-ISD @ 9s
3. Ben Hermans (Bel) RadioShack
4. Koen de Kort (Ned) Skil-Shimano
5. Dominique Cornu (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator
6. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick Step
7. Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick Step
8. Lars Bak (Den) HTC-Highroad
9. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky
10. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
Standings after stage 3
1. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky @ 6s
3. David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Cervélo @ 14s
4. Dominique Cornu (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator @ 24s
5. Ben Hermans (Bel) RadioShack @ 26s