Eneco Tour: Greipel shows his speed in Breda

André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) dismissed any notion that he might be suffering from a post-Tour de France hangover as he powered to victory in the bunch sprint in Breda at the end of stage 2 of the Eneco Tour, while Jesper Asselman (Team Roompot) moved into the overall lead.

Aided by a pitch-perfect lead-out from his Lotto-Soudal team, Greipel made amends for his fourth-place finish the previous day by seeing off the challenges of Jacopo Guarnieri (Katusha) and Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep).

Greipel won from the front, opening his effort after Jens Debuscchere had swung off and he had enough in reserve to hold off the fast-closing Guarnieri and Boonen, while Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC) took fourth.

“The team almost carried me to the finish,” said Greipel, who picked up his 14th victory of the season, continuing the fine run of form that saw him claim four stage wins at the Tour de France, including the grand finale on the Champs-Élysées.

Despite the pan-flat parcours and the still conditions prevalent in the Netherlands on Tuesday afternoon, the stage was not entirely a sprinters’ benefit, as early escapee Asselman divested Elia Viviani (Team Sky) of the race lead thanks to the time bonuses he picked up during the trio of sprints in the so-called “Golden Kilometre” on the final lap of the finishing circuit.

Asselman was in the break of the day for the second successive stage, joining Gijs Van Hoecke (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) when he forged clear in the opening kilometres, and their steady working alliance saw them amass a maximum lead of almost seven minutes over the peloton.

Sky’s pace-setting pegged them back gradually thereafter, with Ian Stannard particularly prominent, but the two leaders still had almost two minutes in hand when they reached the trio of bonus sprints with 22 kilometres remaining.

Asselman’s and Van Hoecke’s smooth understanding was to manifest itself once again here. After allowing Van Hoecke to claim the two Primus combativity sprints, Asselman was repaid by being permitted to lead through the Golden Kilometre and pick up the bonuses he needed to move into the provisional overall lead.

With the final overall classification in mind, meanwhile, Philippe Gilbert (BMC) clipped off the front of the peloton in search of the remaining bonuses, and he enjoyed an entertaining battle with Andriy Grivko (Astana). Gilbert picked up third place in the first and third sprints, while Grivko pipped him in the second.

Lotto-Soudal lead-out

By that point, Lotto-Soudal had begun to make their presence felt at the head of the peloton and they would step up their efforts still further in the final 20 kilometres, where neo-professional Tiesj Benoot caught the eye once again with a series of long, long turns on the front.

The two escapees were swept up with 15 kilometres remaining and the scene was set for a bunch finish, though the finale would be a fraught one, with the preponderance of road furniture adding to the nervousness in the peloton.

Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEdge) was a faller with seven kilometres remaining and the in-form Matti Breschel (Tinkoff-Saxo) hit the ground in a crash in the final two kilometres, though both men were able to remount and finish the stage.

Inside the final three kilometres, a delegation from Etixx-QuickStep attempted to seize control of affairs in support of Boonen, but they were unable to outstrip the Lotto-Soudal train, which swarmed to the front once again underneath the flamme rouge.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Greipel had lost his train in the final kilometre and then compounded his difficulties by opening his sprint too soon and fading to fourth place. There would be no such errors this time around, and when he hit the front with 150 metres remaining, the result was never in doubt.

There were, initially at least, some doubts from the organisation over the general classification situation, with Greipel briefly credited as the new race leader to boot. The result was quickly rectified, however, and Asselman was brought to the podium to receive the white and red jersey of race leader.

The 25-year-old Dutchman is five seconds clear of Greipel and Viviani in the overall standings, while Danny van Poppel (Trek) lies fourth, some nine seconds back. The Eneco Tour crosses into Belgium for stage 3 on Wednesday, with a 171km trek from Bevern to Ardooie.  

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