@ all: I was surprised to see 2 mass sprints as well. Maybe, with the Vuelta coming up, all hope isn't lost! ANd Kittel did great, but the others must be dramatic
Tomorrow (wednesday) report of stage 4 and 5 coming up.
Stage 4 should be a decisive stage in this Eneco Tour, since it features some Ardennes-climbs.
With a sprinter in the GC-lead, we decide to keep the pace low during the climbs, and chase the 3-men breakaway on the flat. Consequently, we can't catch the BOTD and surprising winner Maksat Izbasarov doesn't only take the stage win, but also the GC-lead. He has dropped Yann Huguet (M&M's) and Grega Bole (Vacansoleil), 2 way better hilly riders, on the final hill. The peloton finishes at 1'08, with Marcel Kittel beating Edvald Boasson Hagen and Fabian Cancellara for the 4th place.
After yesterday's hills, today a flat 14.7km ITT awaits, with start and finish in the city of Roermond.
The best time so far is set by Edvald Boasson Hagen, but that gets beaten by our Dutch champ Thomas Dekker. He is 5 seconds faster than EBH and the new time to beat is 20'49.
Lieuwe Westra was 1 second slower than his team mate, but the next rider to finish looks to be faster. Disguised as Captain America, Garmin's Tejay van Garderen is 1 second faster! New best time: 20'48.
All the team's hopes in winning the GC can be thrown away when Spartacus is hammering down the route. He completely destroys the opposition and sets the new limit at 20'20. Yes, Fabian Cancellara is 28 seconds faster than TvG in less than 15 kilometres..... Truelly amazing.
All Marcel Kittel now has to do is to limit his loss. He started the ITT with a 4-second margin, and when he can win the 2 final stages (40 bonus seconds), he must loose less than 44 seconds. But he can't make it, 13th time at '56. And as we fins out that Cancellara also gets 20 bonus seconds (for a ITT, why?????), the GC-win is gone.
And for those who are curious what can Maksat Izbasarov do after yesterday's win, with a TT-stat of 61? 132nd position at 1'53.
Results
1
Fabian Cancellara
Sky ProCycling
20'20
2
Tejay Van Garderen
Garmin - Barracuda
+ 28
3
Thomas Dekker
Petronas - Monster Energy
+ 29
4
Lieuwe Westra
Petronas - Monster Energy
+ 30
5
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Dexia
+ 34
6
Rui Costa
Movistar Team
+ 42
7
Stef Clement
M&M's
+ 43
8
Ignatas Konovalovas
Movistar Team
+ 50
9
Michael Rogers
Sky ProCycling
+ 52
10
Rick Flens
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 54
GC
1
Fabian Cancellara
Sky ProCycling
13h15'09
2
Tejay Van Garderen
Garmin - Barracuda
+ 39
3
Thomas Dekker
Petronas - Monster Energy
+ 53
4
Lieuwe Westra
Petronas - Monster Energy
+ 59
5
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Dexia
+ 1'09
6
Rui Costa
Movistar Team
+ 1'10
7
Marcel Kittel
Petronas - Monster Energy
+ 1'12
8
Maksat Izbasarov
Pro Team Astana
+ 1'31
9
Stijn Devolder
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'32
10
Beñat Intxausti
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 1'34
Today's Winner
Word from the DS
Oh well, Cancellara is too strong in the ITT. Now the goal is to keep the 3rd place in the GC.
The day after the ITT, the peloton and the GC-contenders take it easy. In the 189km stage with start and finish in Genk, a 14-rider breakaway can fight for the stage win. Omega Pharma's Staf Scheirlinckx has attacked with 15km to go, and the other 13 can't catch him again. So the stage win goes to Scheirlincks, with Steve Chainel (FDJ) and Thomas Berkhout (M&M's) in 2nd and 3rd at 1'09. The peloton finishes at 8'14, no GC-changes.
The final stage with start and finish in Sittard-Geleen. 201 kilometres with lots of short steep hills.
8km to go
For the 2nd day in a row, the breakaway gets the blessings from the peloton. Team Sky doesn't need to chase them, and we don't as we have a plan to improve the 3rd position in the GC.
With 8km to go, at the last hill of the day, GC's number 3 Thomas Dekker attacks out of the peloton. He quickly creates a margin of 30 seconds, meaning he can overtake Tejay van Garderen for the 2nd place in the GC.
Finish
Meanwhile, Jarl Salomein wins the sprint of the BOTD, giving his team Landbouwkrediet - Euphony a great win. Steve Chainel finishes in 2nd, just as yesterday, and Eduard Prades (Euskaltel) in 3rd.
Thomas Dekker manages to stay in front of the peloton and finishes at 3'24. The peloton finishes about 15 seconds later, but the question is what will the judges decide, do they give a time gap or not??
The Results
1
Jarl Salomein
Landbouwkrediet - Euphony
5h14'05
2
Steve Chainel
FDJ
s.t.
3
Eduard Prades
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
4
Filippo Pozzato
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
5
Kasper Jebjerg
Saxo Bank SunGard
s.t.
6
Wim De Vocht
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step
s.t.
7
Saïd Haddou
Team Europcar
s.t.
8
Sterling Magnell
Radio Shack - Nissan
s.t.
9
Leigh Howard
Pro Team Astana
s.t.
10
Yannick Eijssen
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
Today's Winner
GC
It takes the judges almost 15 minutes to make their decision, and finally, it is in our benefit! The peloton finishes '16 behind Dekker, meaning he jumps to the 2nd place in the GC!!
1
Fabian Cancellara
Sky ProCycling
23h16'42
2
Thomas Dekker
Petronas - Monster Energy
+ 37
3
Tejay Van Garderen
Garmin - Barracuda
+ 39
4
Lieuwe Westra
Petronas - Monster Energy
+ 59
5
Marcel Kittel
Petronas - Monster Energy
+ 1'06
6
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Dexia
+ 1'09
7
Rui Costa
Movistar Team
+ 1'10
8
Maksat Izbasarov
Pro Team Astana
+ 1'31
9
Stijn Devolder
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'32
10
Beñat Intxausti
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 1'34
Points
1
Marcel Kittel
Petronas - Monster Energy
87
2
Fabian Cancellara
Sky ProCycling
76
3
Lieuwe Westra
Petronas - Monster Energy
57
4
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Dexia
52
5
Steve Chainel
FDJ
50
Overall winner
Word from the DS
2 stage wins, and in the end a 2nd place in the GC, and 3 in the top 5. Very happy with this!!
@ Ian: it surprised me too they gave this time gap. Still happy about it. ANd when Cancellara is riding here, it's impossible to beat him for the GC, too much ITT-kilometres.
Next stop, and the final preparation race for the Vuelta, is the Tour de l'Ain, a 5-stage race in the French departement of the Ain. With the final stage ending at the summit of the Grand Colombier, the race is one for climbers. Last year, Domenico Pozzovivo took the win here.
The only flat stage of the Tour de l'Ain, with the finish in Saint Vulbas, brings another win to Samuel Dumoulin, already his 12th this season! Matti Breschel finishes in 2nd and with the other sprinters totally disappointing here, Gregory Bernard takes the 3rd place.
As every year, the team participates in my hometown event, the Dutch Food Valley Classic, formerly known as Veenendaal - Veenendaal. And last year we managed to win here, thanks to Theo Bos.
The Route
While the real route features a lot of small hills (max. elevation of 60 metres, gradients up to 10%), the PCM-version is flat.
All we have to do was to let the race end in a mass sprint. Easy task. And with riders as Samue Dumoulin and Michael Van Staeyen in the BOTD, we know that there are 2 favourites less for the mass sprint. With the help of the Rabobank Continental Team, the BOTD gets caught with 10km to go.
And thanks to Thomas Dekker and Coen Vermeltfoort, Marcel Kittel is perfectly launched with 1500m to go. It's pretty easy for the German to stay in the lead, and he wins the Dutch Food Valley Classic. Young Dutch Bernd Smit(Rabo CT) takes a very surprising 2nd place, with Kris Boeckmans (Omega Pharma) in 3rd.
Maksat Izbasarov
Yann Huguet
Grega Bole
Marcel Kittel
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Fabian Cancellara
Giovanni Visconti
Gianni Meersman
Tejay Van Garderen
Rui Costa
Ignatas Konovalovas
Michael Rogers
Beñat Intxausti
Kasper Jebjerg
Gustav Erik Larsson
Leonardo Duque
