Tuft takes Eneco time trial and overall lead

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Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge) won the fifth stage time trial of the Eneco Tour to take over the race lead. The Canadian covered the 17.4km course in 20:25. Taylor Phinney of BMC Racing Team was second, with Rabobank's Lars Boom third.

The win gave Tuft the overall lead going into the final stage, with Lars Boom (Rabobank) second at  only four seconds down and Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) holding on to his third place but now at 16 seconds. Chavanel's teammate Tom Boonen had led the race coming into the stage, but lost 1:01 on the stage, dropping out of contention.

The biggest surprise of the day was the performance of Alberto Contador, who many had expected to dominate in this first individual time trial since returning from a doping-related suspension. However, the Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank rider was only able to put in a time of 30:47, a whole 22 seconds slower than Tuft and only enough for sixth place on the stage. Still, it was enough to move him up to 10th place, only 49 seconds down.

Phinney set a strong best time on the course in Ardooie, Belgium, coming in with a time of 20:30. No one was able to get too close to him, with Vacansoleil's Lieuwe Westra best at 13 seconds back. But then Tuft blasted through five seconds faster than the young American.

Boonen had come into this penultimate stage with only a one-second lead over Jens Keukeleire of Orica-GreenEdge, and in fact the whole of the top ten was within six seconds. “Tornado Tom”, better known for his sprints than his time trialling, was the last to take off.

Chavanel set a fast pace and took the best time at the only intermediate check. Keukeleire lost a lot of time in the first half of the race, and Boonen did his best, but couldn't keep up with the specialists.

Boom came to the finish six seconds slower than Tuft, and although he couldn't take this stage, it put him a good position for the overall victory after Sunday's stage, which will include the Muur van Geraardsbergen. Chavanel lost significant time on the second half of the course, crossing the finish line in 20:45, giving the win and the overall lead to Tuft.

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