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Eneco Tour 2015: Stage 3

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Live coverage of stage 3 of the Eneco Tour, 171.9 kilometres from Beveren to Ardooie.

65km remaining from 171km

After two days in the Netherlands, the peloton is in Belgium for today's stage of the Eneco Tour, but it's followed a very similar script. The break went early, without much of a struggle and quickly built up a lead. The Roompot-led peloton is now steadily going about the business of pegging them back ahead of the seemingly inevitable bunch sprint.

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Today's Golden Kilometre comes with 25 kilometres remaining, with three bonus sprints worth 3, 2 and 1 seconds to the first three across the line, all in the space of 1,000 metres.

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Greipel looked to be suffering from something of a Tour de France hangover when he faded to fourth on stage 1, but he roared back in defiant fashion in Beveren yesterday. Lotto-Soudal delivered a pitch-perfect lead-out, with young Tiesj Benoot very prominent. This is what Greipel had to say about his 14th win of the 2015 campaign.

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The finish in Ardooie is a staple of the Eneco Tour, and a rather notorious one at that. Twelve months ago, Zdenek Stybar crashed out of the race after he was forced into the barriers in the finale.

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Houle quickly remounts and carries on, despite some cuts to his shoulder. Izaguirre, meanwhile, remains lying on the road, and is being attended to by his team doctor.

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Incidentally, some Roompot riders have been using disc brakes as part of a UCI-mandated test on this Eneco Tour, and Sky's Bernard Eisel is also trialling disc brakes in competition this afternoon.

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Movistar have confirmed that Gorka Izaguirre has abandoned the Eneco Tour and will be taken to hospital for further assessment.

Today's finale is on a 15-kilometre finishing circuit, to be covered twice, meaning that the bunch will pass through the finish area for the first time with 30 kilometres to race.

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The Lotto-Soudal team of André Greipel has yet to take up the reins but they will surely be to the fore once the race hits the finishing circuit. The German has already won in Ardooie in 2010 and 201, and is targeting a hat-trick this afternoon.

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An update on Gorka Izaguirre's condition from Movistar directeur sportif Jose Luis Jaimerena. "Gorka was conscious, reacting to our questions, but took a blow to the head. They've immobilized him and taken him away by ambulance, as a precaution. For now, we don't know any more," he said, according to the team's Twitter account.

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Theuns puts his head down and picks up the three seconds at the third sprint for good measure.

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Orica-GreenEdge and Trek Factory Racing have sent delegations to the front of the peloton, and they duly pick up the soft-pedalling Boucher. Just Theuns and Veuchelen remain up the road.

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BMC, with Jean-Pierre Drucker in mind, are among the teams massed at the head of the peloton.

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Orica-GreenEdge lead the bunch through the sweeping combination of bends ahead of the final kilometre.

Orica-GreenEdge lead the bunch through the sweeping combination of bends ahead of the final kilometre.

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A number of competing trains are looking to marhsal their fast men into position ahead of the inevitable sprint, with Trek, Orica-GreenEdge and Astana all prominent. Andre Greipel is a little further back, but surrounded by a guard of Lotto-Soudal riders.

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The sprint lacks the cohesion of yesterday...

Arnaud Démare (FDJ) opens his sprint early. Greipel is a long way back...

Tom Boonen overhauls Démare...

Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) wins stage 3 of the Eneco Tour.

Arnaud Démare (FDJ) holds on for second place ahead of Elia Viviani (Sky).

Andrea Guardini (Astana) took fourth ahead of Dylan Groenewegen, while Greipel - somehow - picked his way through to take sixth.

Jesper Asselman (Roompot) looks to have done enough to retain the overall lead.

Result:

General classification after stage 3:

1 Jesper Asselman (Ned) Team Roompot 12:13:20
2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:01
3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
4 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:00:05
5 Edward Theuns (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise 0:00:06
6 Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:09
7 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr
8 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Team Katusha
9 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
10 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert

Thanks for joining our live coverage of today's stage of the Eneco Tour, where Tom Boonen claimed an important win as he looks to stake a claim for leadership of the Belgian team at the World Championships in Richmond - and as he looks to finalise his contract for the 2016 campaign. A full report, results and pictures will follow here, and we'll be back with more live coverage from tomorrow's time trial.

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