Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) continued his impressive autumn campaign and took an important step towards overall victory in the Eneco Tour when he made it two in a row on the fourth stage of the Dutch-Belgian race. After an infight with Arnaud Demare (FDJ), he came around Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and held off a fast-finishing André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) to beat the German in a close photo finish. With the win, the world champion moves into the race lead with a 7-second advantage over Rohan Dennis (BMC).

 

We have gathered several reactions.

 

Sagan: It’s good to get some extra seconds

With another powerful sprint finish after a hectic finale to the fourth stage of the Eneco Tour, Peter Sagan took another win, his second in two days, with a bike throw to the line deciding the victor. Sagan held off the charge from behind on the headwind finish, timing his lunge to perfection to take the win and the 10 second bonus that moves him into the overall race lead, by seven seconds.

 

After finding out that he was indeed the stage winner, Sagan told:

 

“I didn’t know I’d won because it was very close with André and after I was waiting for the final result, but I’m very happy with the win because it’s another case of very good timing with the headwind finish. He came through very fast, but I just managed to stay ahead It was a nervous sprint at the end and I had to hold my line next to Démare, but that’s sprinting. Timing and positioning were crucial. I wasn't sure I won and waited for confirmation. It was a heavy sprint. I had some issues with Demare, but I don't think I did anything wrong. I took my line, these things happen in the sprint.

 

"It was Arnaud Démare who deviated from his line and rode aggressively. If he thinks it's my fault, that's a shame.”

 

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s team time trial, Sagan added:

 

“I am happy with the victory and the leader's jersey. I’m happy, it’s good that I got some more seconds from today. We want to make a good team time trial and do our best and we’ll see how it goes. BMC are the world champions, but I'm sure Tinkoff can deliver a good performance as well. After that, we will see what the weekend brings."

 

Holding his position in the line, then jumping at just the right moment, Sagan was able to power clear and timed it to perfection to hold off a fast closing André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) from behind, giving him his third win in five days.

 

“From this morning we had a plan that meant that we’d need to work as we’re close in GC – everyone had to take their responsibility, so we put guys in front,” explained Sport Director, Tristan Hoffman from the finish. “After 70km we hit the cobblestones and the break came close again. Then other teams pushed on and caught the break a long way out so it was a hard race from then on.

 

“The boys did a good job to control, then it came back together at the end and we saw another super sprint from Peter. After his crash yesterday, Michael Valgren survived today – he was hurting but he’s getting better and hopefully he can be in good shape for tomorrow. The time trial is 20km – I don’t expect huge time differences, but it could go either way. There are other teams that are favourites but the boys are focused and I think we have some good horsepower to get a result.”

 

As well as taking the white jersey of race leader, Sagan extends his lead in the points classification with three stages remaining.

 

Greipel: We wanted to make the race hard and we succeeded

The finale started for real when the riders got onto local circuit. Lotto Soudal was very attentive, but they didn’t succeed to create a new leading group. The team set the pace in the peloton and caught the two Astana riders and Jasper Stuyven, who rode right in front of the peloton for a while. Peter Sagan won the sprint just ahead of André Greipel.

 

André Greipel said: 

 

“Of course I’m disappointed that Sagan beat me today. With two kilometres to go there was a crash in the bunch. I was just behind the crash and I had to come back from the fortieth position. Thanks to a big effort of Jürgen Roelandts I still got to the front of the peloton in time. Unfortunately I already wasted a lot of energy.

 

”The team took the responsibility today and they made the race very hard. The goal was to make the race hard with ninety kilometres to go and we made it happen. I still felt good in the finale.

 

”In the last hundred metres there was a little incident with Démare and Sagan. I had to stop pedalling for a second. I was too late to beat Sagan in the sprint. At the finish line none of us knew who won, but the photo finish showed that Sagan was the fastest one today.

 

”It’s unfortunate, but I’m happy with my condition and with the work that the team has done today. I hope that further on in the Eneco tour, the team and I will be able to show us again.”

 

Kristoff after third place: I hope my shape for the Worlds is coming

For the second day in a row Team KATUSHA’s Alexander Kristoff was in the heart of the action for the final mass sprint, but Thursday’s stage 4 saw the Norwegian rider up his game to take third place on the finish line in St-Pieters-Leeuw. Kristoff is encouraged with the signs of his form coming along as he plans for the upcoming world championships in Doha in a few weeks.

 

”I was in a good position from my teammates Marco and Mørkøv bringing me to the front at the end. I started my sprint a little earlier today because I waited too long before. But there was a little bit of a headwind when I went at 250 m so I knew it was going to be hard. I think I did a good sprint but unfortunately Sagan had my wheel the whole way and was able to come around me. In the end André Greipel passed me too. Third place is not what I hoped for but it’s not a bad result and it’s better than my previous sprint so it’s a step closer to getting a win. My legs feel good so I hope the shape is now coming for the world championships,” said team leaderAlexander Kristoff.

 

”We had a mix of road types today, from Tour of Flanders to Flèche Wallonne roads to cobblestones and the hilly area of climbing - it was a hard stage. The peloton raced hard and fast today and we saw many guys dropped. It was really a nice bike race. Today was 201 kilometers full of action. Our riders did a good job on the road and we came up with a third place finish behind world class riders. It was a good sprint from Alex, he had to go when he did. This will give the boys confidence,” said team director Torsten Schmidt.

 

There was more time to line up the sprint trains on stage 4 ut team KATUSHA’s Marco Haller and Michael Mørkøv expertly guided Kristoff to the front for his sprint. He was just short of the win for third place but the improvement bodes well for the upcoming race days still to come.

 

Groenewegen: Fifth place after such a hard race is more than acceptable

Team LottoNL-Jumbo rider Dylan Groenewegen placed fifth in the Eneco Tour’s fourth stage today in St-Pieters-Leeuw. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) sprinted to victory again from a small group and took over the leader's jersey. Jos van Emden holds his third place overall. 

 

Four men escaped in the longest stage of the Eneco Tour, 202 kilometres from Aalter. The peloton kept them close and with 60 kilometres left, they were back in the peloton. Several others tried and made the sprinters’ lives difficult.

 

“We rode fast today, the cobblestones and the hills made it hard,” Groenewegen said. “A fifth place after such a stage is more acceptable. Halfway through the race, I did not feel very good, but in the sprint, I felt good again." 

 

Again it was a hectic sprint. Groenewegen said that it has been like that in every road stage of the Eneco Tour.

 

"It's like it just does not work. In the final, we were separated because we were caught on the left side after the crash. I jumped on Boasson Hagen’s wheel, but he did not move up and so I started the sprint.”

 

"It was an exciting day with the bends, cobblestones and hills. That made it very hectic," said Sports Director Merijn Zeeman.

 

“Wagner, Wynants, Leezer and Roosen rode themselves completely empty for the GC men and our sprinter. As planned, we looked after Dylan and made sure he was still in the peloton over the last climb. We brought him into position. It seemed that he was well-positioned, but the crash in the final threw a spanner in the works and prevented Groenewegen from sprinting for victory."

 

In the overall standings, Jos van Emden holds in third place. Because Andrei Grivko (Astana) took some seconds, he rose to fourth. Wilco Kelderman and Primoz Roglic now sit in seventh and ninth place. The team time trial tomorrow should change things again in the Eneco Tour.

 

Aggressive Dumoulin on the attack, Degenkolb shows growing form

With the breakaway caught the attacks started to fly as riders tried to get clear including Tom Dumoulin and Georg Preidler. However, the peloton reeled them in. Eventually, a group of two riders prised itself clear from the front of the bunch. Dumoulin was part of a chasing group inside the last 25km but he wasn’t able to bridge the gap to the front group.

 

In the end, Dumoulin’s teammate John Degenkolb took 6th place.

 

Coach Morten Bennekou said after the stage:

 

“Today was a very long and hard stage with some cobblestones sections. The race turned out as expected with a breakaway being caught early and we were prepared for this scenario to happen. From that point onwards, plenty of new attacks took place. Tom was part of a chasing group with Tony Martin (Etixx- QuickStep) but they couldn’t close the gap to the leaders.

 

“Eventually, everything was back together. In the finale, we showed great organisation and we did a good job to set up John for the sprint. However John lacked the final speed but he still managed to race to 6th place and we can be satisfied with this result, especially with his current shape and in this field.”

 

Van Rensburg takes over from Boasson Hagen, Eisel crashes out

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg was Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka’s best placed finisher today, as he crossed the line in St-Pieters-Leeuw in 7th place.

 

With 40 kilometers to go Nathan Haas hit the front for the African team, riding Edvald Boasson Hagen into position. The two got quite a strong group of riders around them and also managed to get a little gap over the peloton. However, the bunch wasn’t keen on letting them go.

 

Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka rode attentively all day, playing an important role in the finale to bring the break back with Jay Thomson helping to drive the bunch. Boasson Hagen was then brought into position for the sprint by Janse van Rensburg and it seemed that he would have the perfect spot when Kristoff opened his sprint. Unfortunately, the riders lost each other in that moment. Boasson Hagen managed to find a way onto Greipel’s wheel when he got boxed in. He had to stop pedaling to avoid a crash and therefore couldn’t play his card as planned. Janse van Rensburg just managed to get through that situation to earn the team another top10 at this Eneco Tour. Boasson Hagen crossed the line in 12th place. He is now 41 seconds down in GC on Sagan, who took the stage in a photo finish and also moved into the overall lead.

 

Austrian Bernhard Eisel) had to give up after a crash in the fourth stage.

 

"Bernhard Eisel crashed on the cobbles of Oetingen after nearly 112 kilometers course. Eisel still got back on the bike, but after a few kilometers he had too much trouble and abandoned,” explained sports director Jean-Pierre Heyndercikx. "Eisel suffered injuries to the hip and ribs. He will now travel with the team to the hotel in Maastricht. Then we will check him in the hospital. "

 

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg said:

 

“I quite enjoyed today’s race. It was pretty chaotic in the last 100 kilometers. There were lots of attacks and we tried a few times to destabilize the race by sneaking into the moves. In the end I was meant to bring Edvald in position for the sprint. We lost each other in the last bit, so I hang on to cross the line in 7th.”

 

Trek: Nizzolo had the legs for a much better result

The first taste of cobbled roads and sharp hills made for a thrilling ending to stage four, but despite many big-named riders initiating action – including Jasper Stuyven racing on his training grounds – it all culminated in a reduced bunch sprint. 

 

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) eked out a narrow win over Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal), while Giacomo Nizzolo was left frustrated with a ninth place after being pinched off Greipel's wheel.

 

"Giacomo just missed the crash that happened at 1km to go," said director Dirk Demol. "He managed to come back to a good position, but was blocked at the last moment and could not again do his normal sprint. This is part of sprinting. He for sure had much more in his legs than a ninth place."

 

The first taste of cobbles and hills in the seven-day race has stirred up Stuyven, who thrives in the tight up and down and winding roads. When the breakaway was tamed 60 kilometers from home base, the attacking began, and Stuyven dipped his hand into the action.

 

Stuyven's significant move came with less than 10 kilometers to go when he jumped across to the two Astana teammates who had been off the front for over 20 kilometers. When the peloton was about to snag them back with three kilometers remaining, Stuyven countered and gave one last heroic effort. 

 

It was courageous but impossible. One kilometer later, the peloton, with much more power and speed, roared over Stuyven, and the sprinters began elbowing their way forward.

 

"It was the plan that from today on we are aggressive in the finals since it is not so flat anymore and today also with the cobbles," continued Demol.  "And this is what we did. Jasper managed to get across to the two Astana riders, which was a huge effort and showed again that this guy has potential. But there are so many sprinters here, so there are always teams pulling, and so it's hard to make it.  But on the other side, it helped the guys because we could save energy with Boy (Van Poppel), Fabio (Felline), and Giacomo for the sprint."

 

So far the sprints have been a free-for-all in the Eneco Tour, and despite their messy nature, Nizzolo has been consistently in the game. Thursday, again, Nizzolo was poised for a good finish. In one moment, everything was aligning seamlessly: Nizzolo had Greipel's wheel, who had Sagan's, but in the next, it was over. Greipel jumped, the door slammed shut behind, leaving Nizzolo unable to follow.

Such is the fickle game of sprinting.

 

The Eneco Tour continues with a 20.9-kilometer team time trial tomorrow that will be a crucial factor in the general classification. With the team losing the services of Eugenio Alafaci, who was a non-starter in stage three with health problems, and the big engine of Marco Coledan nursing an injured wrist, it will be a tough test against the specialist teams.

 

Demol said: "In general, I have to say we rode aggressively today, and we rode as a team. Marco is still in the race, but he struggled a lot today with his wrist. He showed a lot of character to finish because the roads we have in Belgium are not the best, especially with the cobbled sections. After the first two days, Eugenio was not feeling at all good, and with the team doctor we made the decision it was better he did not start yesterday.

 

"Tomorrow is the TTT, which will be hard for us, but we will try and do the best as possible and limit big losses. Then we have two more days to do what we did today, and that means I want us to be in the race."

 

Ewan and Matthews crash on tough day at the Eneco Tour

Slovenian lead out specialist Luka Mezgec sprinted to tenth place for ORICA-BikeExchange on stage four of the Eneco Tour after another chaotic and crash laden finale.

 

2016 Tour de France stage winner Michael Matthews crashed at speed with less than two kilometres remaining as the speeding bunch swept up the late breakaway.

 

Around ten riders went down alongside Matthews who fortunately did not suffer serious injury and was able to complete the stage.

 

A long and aggressive day saw the race come alive in a final 50kilometres filled with attacks, crashes and near misses before Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) won the stage and moved into the overall lead with three more race days to come.

 

Mezgec was in position with Matthews until the crash with the Slovenian managing to avoid the incident before jumping from wheel to wheel to finish in tenth place.

 

Sport director Laurenzo Lapage lamented the missed opportunity due to the late crash but praised the performance of the team.

 

“We knew it was going to be a fast and aggressive stage,” said Lapage. “It started quickly and the pace didn’t really let up for a moment. The guys did very well to maintain position when the race really came apart in the final third.

 

“After the crashes of Caleb Ewan early on and then Michael (Matthews) in the finale, Luka (Mezgec) had to go it alone and he did a great job to finish in the top ten.

 

“Caleb went down on the first cobble section of the day and despite a bit of road rash he was ok to continue. Both Caleb and Michael were lucky as both of the crashes could have been a lot worse.

 

“We headed into the finale with Michael in a good position behind Luka and it is a shame that we didn’t get the chance to see how they would compete, the crash happened so quickly that it was all over before it had even begun.”

 

Tony Martin on the attack in the Eneco Tour

Inside the final 30 kilometers, Astana duo Andriy Grivko and Dmitry Gruzdev rode away and they were soon followed by Tony Martin and Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin). The duo put their time trial skills to work and took 20 seconds on the peloton, but as many teams had an interest in a bunch sprint at the end of the day, they were brought back on the final climb of the stage.

 

Thanks to the bonus seconds he grabbed at the Golden Kilometer, German ITT Champion Tony Martin climbed in the general classification to 13th, just two places behind teammate Marcel Kittel, with another Etixx – Quick-Step rider Niki Terpstra lying in 17th place. The squad will now look towards stage 5 of the race, a 20.9-km long team time trial in Sittard-Geelen, which is expected to reshuffle the standings and set the platform for an exciting week-end.

 

Dennis: It’s an advantage to lose the jersey as I can now wear a skinsuit in the TTT

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) took the win and in doing so knocked Rohan Dennis out of the overall lead going into the stage 5 team time trial. Dennis now sits in second place on the General Classification, seven seconds behind Sagan.

 

BMC Racing Team worked hard to control the moves and protect Dennis’ lead, which saw Daniel Oss and Stefan Küng jump in some of the attacks.

 

Taylor Phinney sits in seventh overall.

 

Rohan Dennis said:

 

“It was stressful but I was sort of was floating around in the middle of the peloton. I didn’t really have to stress too much about anything going away and staying away because the guys were covering everything and making sure that it was in control. There were a few times I started stressing but I told myself not to follow because I knew that they [teammates] were doing the right thing.”

 

“I was pretty confident that I was going to lose the jersey today but I said to Joey Rosskopf last night that it probably isn’t a bad thing because then I get to wear our team skin suit instead in the TTT. The ideal situation was that Sagan only gained one second on me but he’s got seven. It’s not the end of the race but we just have to make up the time.”

 

Greg Van Avermaet said:

 

“The last 60km was really fast. We tried to control it but it was almost impossible. It was a really hard day in the end. We knew that Sagan was a good sprinter and a big contender and everything came together for the bunch sprint. It’s sad that we lose the jersey but maybe we can take it back tomorrow.”

 

Fabio Baldato, Sports Director, added:

 

“The team time trial is only 20km and the level here is really high so I’m not sure how much time we can pull back tomorrow. I don’t expect a big difference. For sure today’s stage was really hard for everyone so this may make a difference tomorrow. We’re definitely the favorites for tomorrow which is why today the teams made us work so hard. On paper we have the strongest team so we will have to see how it plays out tomorrow and then we will look at the GC.”

 

Movistar with several cards to play at the Eneco Tour

Even some riders, like Alex Dowsett, expressed themselves worried about the Eneco Tour not finding a chaotic day like Thursday’s racing - 199km between Aalter and Sint Pieters-Leeuw - until stage four of seven in the race. Climbs, cobblestones, dangerous gutters, interminable lines of struggling riders at the back of the field following every single turn; an early break caught more than 60km from the finish; duo attacks by big stars, such as Tom Dumoulin (TGA) and Tony Martin (EQS); a lead group - with two AST riders in Dmitriy Gruzdev and Andriy Grivko - not chased down until the last 3km, motorbikes crashing just after a roundabout, and a pile-up with 2km from the finish - both without Movistar Team riders involved. ‘Who would like to miss it!’, some riders would ironically think at the finish.

 

The crash, which did not prevent Peter Sagan (TNK) from taking a milimeter sprint win over Andre Greipel (LTS) despite happening just next to him, caused the race jury to neutralize times in the peloton, with seven Movistar Team members within the 110-strong field coming together. Initially signalled as 4th overall in the quick results, Jasha Sütterlin eventually sits 5th in the GC - 21” off Sagan’s pace - as Dowsett (12th), Ion Izagirre (14th) and Oliveira (20th; on the attack today, as Imanol Erviti) conserve less than half a minute’s gap on the Slovak. The squad directed by Garcia Acosta and Jaimerena will be the fourth-to-last off the ramp (3.58pm local) on Friday at the trascendental TTT in and around Sittard-Geleen, 20km that could decide many things in the overall classification.

 

No chance for Van Poppel in hectic sprint

Danny van Poppel led the Team Sky charge at Eneco Tour but found himself too far back to launch his sprint on stage four.

 

The day came down to another rough and tumble bunch kick, this time with an uphill incline in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw.

 

Van Poppel was looking to position himself on the best wheel in the closing kilometres but was unable to influence the final shake-up and crossed the line behind the first wave of sprinters in 24th.

 

The day's breakaway were caught early with 61km still to race. That regrouping invited a barrage of attacks, with a host of teams and riders trying to put men up the road. Team Sky were prominently positioned and Van Poppel was among those to briefly chip off the front.

 

Luke Rowe set about patrolling the front, before Ben Swift hit the head of the peloton in the final kilometres to ensure it was all back together for a sprint. Geraint Thomas was forced to check up and stop behind a crash with 1.5km to go, but happily stayed upright.

 

Strong attack moves Grivko into fourth at the Eneco Tour

"Along with Dmitri Gruzdev we tried to surprise the bunch when there were less than 40 km to go,” said Andriy Grivko.

 

"We had 30 seconds 30km from the finish and we were caught 20km later on the Bruine Put climb but we managed to earn bonus time". 

 

With the 9 seconds earned, the Ukrainian rider is now fourth in the overall standings just 20” behind the new leader Sagan.

 

Commissaire: Sagan made no fault in the sprint

"We have retained the outcome as it was," Chairman of the jury Luc Geysen told Het Nieuwsblad. "It was Arnaud Démare who swerved a bit, but there was certainly no fault from Peter Sagan. He held his line and did not hamper anyone. Therefore there is no question of relegation. But we wanted to be ure and therefore we have repeatedly watched the TV images and then reached our decision. Peter Sagan wins and is also the new leader.”