Posthuma takes second stage race of the year

For the second time this season, Joost Posthuma (Rabobank) has taken the overall win in a stage race. After taking the lead in the Tour of Luxembourg on the third stage by a slender one second, the Dutchman was able to hold onto the jersey on the final stage into the capital, Luxembourg, a tough stage which saw the race splinter into many smaller groups. His final victory margin remained one second over Michael Albasini (Liquigas). Italy's Salvatore Commesso (Preti Mangimi) won the final stage ahead of Sergey Rudaskov (Cycle Collstrop) and Dana Andonov Petrov (Benfica).

Rabobank's sport director for the race, Erik Dekker, was happy with the way their depleted team of just six riders handled the final stage. "We never had any stress," he explained on Rabobank's website, Rabobank.nl.

"My greatest fear was that [Fränk] Schleck would attack in the final, but that never happened," Dekker said. "We just rode the final three local laps and that was it. Albasini also never tried anything. We always had the race under control. A good day's racing."

Even with just six riders, Rabobank not only took the final overall classification but also the teams classification.

The stage's beginning was marked by a series of break-aways, the first of which was controlled by Rabobank's Laurens Ten Dam and contained Andy Schleck. That group had up to a three-minute lead, which gave Ten Dams the virtual race lead. However, Crédit Agricole led the chase to capture the group. "It was a remarkable situation," said Dekker. "Without having to do any lead work, everyone came back together, after which the fourteen broke away. Perhaps Fränk Schleck was the best in this Tour, but the best rider does not always win," he concluded.

Posthuma's other stage race victory this year was the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde run from April 1-3 in Belgium.