During yesterday’s final stage of the Eneco Tour, Team Radioshack seemed as if they had the team title all sewn up. But when Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) powered away from the field to win the final stage and the overall, he was originally judged to be one second ahead of the field, which put Team Sky one second ahead of Radioshack in the team standings. However it was eventually ruled that Boasson Hagen obtained his gap because of crashes that happened behind him on the finishing stretch. As a result, everyone was given the same time, and Radioshack got its team title back.
“The original time on the line had given Boasson Hagen a one second advantage, and Sky the team win too. But his one second advantage was because of crashes,” Radioshack boss Dirk Demol remarked after the stage.
On a sharp left-hand bend in the final hundred meters, Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) was first in line and sprinting for himself, directly ahead of Boasson Hagen and Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha). Galimzyanov lost traction and wiped out into the barriers on the right of the road, which held up Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team) and another rider.
At the same time, Roelandts rolled over on his rear tubular, which came unglued and caused the Belgian to slide out on the left side of the road. Boasson Hagen escaped unimpeded and powered away to the finish line.
“I jumped on the bike right away and went to the race jury,” Demol said of when he heard Boasson Hagen had been rewarded the extra second advantage. “The jury originally said no, but I insisted and they took another look at the last 500 meters.”
“Indeed, all the riders behind Boasson Hagen had to brake because of the crashes of Galimzyanov and Roelandts. [The jury’s final decision] put us back into a tie with Sky, but we won thanks to the hundredths of seconds [by which we beat them] in the time trials.”
Radioshack speedster Manuel Cardoso (pictured) finished second in today’s stage, even though he was sixth in line entering the final bend. “It’s a pity about the crash when you see that I finished second,” he admitted. “But Edvald was really strong, so I say congratulations to him. I’m glad my condition is good, and especially glad that my team had confidence in me after I’d already worked hard for Robbie [McEwen] all week.”
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Team Radioshack – Eneco Tour Results
9 Ben Hermans (Bel) at 1 min 9 secs
29 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) at 2 mins 13 secs
39 Manuel Antonio Leal Cardoso (Por) at 2 mins 47 secs
42 Gregory Rast (Swi) at 2 mins 57 secs
53 Sam Bewley (NZl) at 4 mins 21 secs
69 Jesse Sergent (NZl) at 9 mins 41 secs
94 Robbie McEwen (Aus) at 22 mins 48 secs