Manuele Boaro saw to it that Team Saxo-Tinkoff was present in the long-lasting breakaway during yesterday's 208 kilometre long, hilly and final stage of the Eneco Tour. Sharing the breakaway with André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack-Leopard) there was a good chance of their teams not leading the chase as usual.
But Orica-GreenEDGE had other plans and wanted to bring the escapees back and as the lead was down to two minutes with 50 kilometres remaining, the odds were clearly against the front group. But André Greipel, Ian Stannard (Sky) and Pim Ligthart wanted to extend their stay in the limelight and they broke clear from the group. However, the Sky-rider was the strongest of the trio as he dropped Greipel on Bosberg to continue on his own trying to deny the reduced bunch chasing from behind.
Inside the final five kilometres, Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) bridged the gap to Stannard and dropped him on the uphill finish, Kapelmuur in Geraardsbergen to take the stage win and the overall as well.
While Manuele Boaro demonstrated good form in front of the pack, teammate Daniele Bennati had the misfortune of crashing at the beginning of the stage.
”We entered a roundabout in high pace and unfortunately I slipped and crashed and I wasn't able to continue because of the deep wound that caused a lot of bleeding,” Bennati explained. “Luckily, I suffered no fractures and my wounds on my right elbow were patched up with a dozen stitches afterwards. But it's nothing serious and I hope to be back racing very soon.”
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Vincent VEILLEUX 35 years | today |
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Carsten CHAPMAN 28 years | today |
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