David Lopez holds on for Eneco Tour stage win

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David Lopez (Team Sky) secured a memorable win on La Redoute on stage 6 of the Eneco Tour, holding off a fast finishing Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma QuickStep) and breakaway companion Maciej Paterski (Cannondale).

While Lopez toasted his win it was Tom Dumoulin (Argos Shimano) who took over the race lead, the Dutch climber infiltrating a counter attacking move that distanced all his GC rivals. Dumoulin started the stage in third overall but with Lars Boom (Belkin) suffering and Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma QuicksStep) isolated and out-manoeuvred it was left to Dumoulin to seize the opportunity.

After joining a dangerous counter attack Dumoulin limited his loses to Lopez, Paterski and Angel Madrazo (Movistar) while managing to hold off a spirited fight back from Chavanel. The Argos leader now leads Stybar by 8 seconds in the race for the overall with just one stage remaining in this year’s race.

“I had to work hard for it today,” Dumoulin said after the finish. “I crashed before La Redoute but I stayed calm and was able to come back after a long chase.

“I had to save some energy for the final sprint as to not lose too much time to Stybar. Today was a big chance to take the race lead and I surprised myself.

“You never know what will happen tomorrow but I am really happy to have the jersey now and we will do everything we can to keep it tomorrow.”

Heading into the stage Boom’s fragile lead was always going to be tested with three ascents of La Redoute ahead of the peloton.

Vyacheslav Kuznetsov (Katusha), Gregory Habeaux (Accent Jobs), Jurgen Van Goolen (Accent Jobs), Evan Huffman (Astana), Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma QuickStep), Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Movistar), David Lopez (Team Sky), Nick Nuyens (Garmin-Sharp), Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil), Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) and Maciej Paterski (Cannondale) formed the early break and with Westra less than 50 seconds down on GC, Boom’s Belkin team was called into question when the break established a lead of 7:15.

Just as the gap began to drop a crash in the peloton changed the race. BMC had four men on the tarmac, the worst affected was Taylor Phinney who was forced to abandon, but Philippe Gilbert was forced to chase with his entire team.

At such a critical moment in the action there was little sympathy for the world champion as Belkin and Astana tried to nullify Westra’s assault on GC. Astana made the real difference, almost ignoring the countless attacks from Omega Pharma as they set about dismantling the break’s advantage.

The next key moment came when Kevin De Weert (Omega Pharma) and Tim Wellens broke clear. What was perhaps meant to act as the launch pad for Chavanel turned out to be opportunity Astana were looking for. With Boom dropped, Andriy Grivko and Maxim Iglinskiy set off in hot pursuit latching onto the Belgian duo with a canny Dumoulin for company. The Dutchman had been involved in the same crash as Gilbert earlier. Zdenek Stybar, Jan Bakelants (RadioShack Leopard), Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge) and Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) had already made contact as up ahead Lopez tested the waters with his first genuine attack.

The Sky rider was matched by Westra, Madrazo and an aggressive Paterski, and with 25 kilometres to go the foursome had 1:25 over the chase. Behind the Dumoulin move Gilbert had rallied, but he and Chavanel had few allies in the chase as Omega Pharma appeared reluctant to accept that the Frenchman had been their top rider coming into the stage.

The race changed, swinging in Dumoulin’s favour when Westra ran out of gas and was swept up. From that moment on Dumoulin was a constant presence on the front of the group as he looked to limit his loses to the three leaders and at the same time keep Chavanel squarely on the back foot.

As the three leaders headed towards the final climb Paterski attempted to slip clear. He looked strong but Lopez, who found decent form in the second half of this year’s Tour, reeled the Cannondale rider in.

By now Dumoulin was in pure time trial mode as Chavanel threw caution to the wind and went all out to save his race.
Paterski almost rode off the road as he tried to test his two rivals, and Stybar glued himself to Dumoulin’s rear wheel.

Into the final kilometre and Lopez led the break, their advantage down to just 25 seconds. Lopez’ first attack may not have dropped his companions but it gave the leaders some vital breathing space but his second jump, coming with 150 to go was enough to seal the win.

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