Eneco Tour: Van Avermaet wins in Geraardsbergen

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Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) raced to victory on the Muur van Geraardsbergen on stage 5 of the Eneco Tour. The Belgian came from a long way back, to beat Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) and Pavel Brutt (Katusha).

Riders were all over the place, as the remnants of the peloton hit the final climb up the Muur. Laurens de Vreese (Topsport-Vlaanderen) hit the bottom of the climb first, after he attacked with three kilometres remaining. However, it was Brutt that led the charge for the line.

Brutt was driving to the line with 500 metres to go when he saw Van Avermaet sail past him. The BMC rider made his move with three corners remaining and blew past the struggling riders. It is Van Avermaet’s first victory of the season.

Lars Boom (Belkin) finished within the main group of riders, but was unable to challenge Dumoulin for the bonus seconds. Due to the bonus seconds awarded for second place, Dumoulin now leads the race by two seconds. Quinziato has moved down to third, 11 seconds behind the Giant-Shimano rider.

How it unfolded

After several flat stages to start, the fifth stage of the Eneco Tour signalled the beginning of the real hard fight for the leader’s jersey. With climbs like the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg lying ahead, it would be a day for the hard Classics’ men.

For extra authenticity, the bad weather made one or two appearances during the day. Four men; Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Belisol), Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Pablo Lastras (Movistar) and Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff-Saxo), got away early on, setting the scene for the day. The weather and terrain took its toll, however, and only Lastras and Trentin remained on the final loop.

Belkin did much of the work of the front for their leader Boom, who was also on the hunt for the stage win. However, BMC did as much as they could to disrupt the Dutch team. Sylvain Dillier launched an attack off the front of the group, despite the two leaders still maintaining an advantage of more than two minutes.

The Swiss man was reeled back in, as the attacks continued to come. Boom decided to take things into his own hands with over 20km to go, but he was followed by Philippe Gilbert (BMC). The attacks may have come to nought but it was felt by many and only a select few remained out front.

Lastras and Trentin were eventually brought back with 3.5km to go, signalling another round of attacks.

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