Eneco Tour: Stybar wins in Vlijmen

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Czech champion Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) sped to victory on a dreary stage 2 of the Eneco Tour on Tuesday in Vlijmen. The defending champion emerged from a much-reduced peloton to top Belkin's Lars Boom and Sep Vanmarcke in a wet and windy stage finale.

"It was a chaotic finish as you could see," Stybar said. "I had to bide my time and pick the right moment. There were a lot of attacks going, and I thought I could take my chances. I know these roads. I thought, I have to go with these guys, I didn't really have a choice. I managed the best I could at the end."

The 10-second bonus Stybar received for the stage win vaulted him back into the leader's jersey he won last year, after Andrea Guardini (Astana), the leader at the start of the stage, was left behind on the run-in.

Boom is now second overall by one second, with Vanmarcke in third at six seconds.

How it unfolded

The 177.4-kilometer stage from Waalwijk to Vlijmen was meant to be one for the sprinters, the typical day where a breakaway gets six minutes but is chased back down in the final kilometer before the bunch kick.

Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Kevin Van Melsen (Wanty - Groupe Gobert) and Pavel Brutt (Katusha) were more than happy to be the trio that won the chance for television time, and they gamely forged ahead, building up a gap of 5:50 along the way, while contesting the sprints.

Brutt, the strongest of the three, won all three bonification sprints, getting a boost ahead of the next day's time trial of nine seconds, and moving him into fourth overall by the end of the day.

The situation became a bit desperate in the final hour of racing, as disagreements between the teams of the sprinters, who were aiming only for the stage win, conflicted with those of the overall contenders, who were saving their power for the time trial.

Astana seemed content to have taken the first stage, and did little of the chasing to close down the gap as the trio enjoyed three minutes with under 30km to race.

Belkin and Garmin did much of the work, but could not recruit any help, especially not from Giant-Shimano, whose GC man Tom Dumoulin had a puncture at a critical moment in a section rife with crosswinds, narrow roads and sharp turns.

Up ahead, with 12.5km to go, Brutt left his companions behind and powered away into the center of a rain storm that turned the skies from sunny to an ominous black mass.

The peloton was pounded by the rain with 6km to go, and behind them Dumoulin was chasing with his entire Giant-Shimano team, desperately trying to get back into contention. His hopes were dashed when the team car took the bold move of moving directly in front of the chasing group to provide shelter, and was waved off by the race officials.

Finally, Omega Pharma-QuickStep came to the front of the chase after its sprinter Matteo Trentin crashed in a roundabout, and succeeded in chasing down the entire breakaway, with Brutt succumbing at 4.5km to go.

Once the breakaway was caught, Belkin, Cannondale, and finally Guardini's Astana team came to the fore as the skies opened up with the taps on full, making the pavé sections treacherous.

Philippe Gilbert (BMC) tried to push the pace with 2.5km to go, but only drew out Tom Boonen and Vanmarcke as the peloton split in two behind.

Boom, Manuel Quinziato and Stybar got a gap with 1km to go, with Cannondale chasing hard, but they were all caught. Belkin's Bauke Mollema came through to try and break up the bunch, but there was no beating the Czech champion. Stybar, the defending champion, claimed the stage and race lead.

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