Wellens secures overall title at Eneco Tour

Nearly a decade on from his only individual victory as a professional, Manuel Quinziato (BMC) returned to the scene of that triumph and made it two on the final stage of the Eneco Tour on Sunday. Meanwhile Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) didn’t take as long to double up as he crossed the line safely in the bunch to secure a second overall victory in two years.

Quinziato won a stage in the 2006 edition of the race and here on the hilly and cobbled terrain of Flanders, he attacked from a leading trio on the penultimate climb and managed to hold on to the finish line halfway up the Muur van Geraardsbergen.

Bjorn Leukemans (Wanty Groupe Gobert) and Yves Lampaert (Etixx-QuickStep) came home second and third respectively having had no reply to the Italian’s attack on the 700-metre long Denderoordberg, which has an average gradient of eight per cent. Quinziato knew he couldn’t leave it until the final climb and after stretching out his lead on the flat run in to Geraardsbergen he faded on the Muur to make it a nerve-wracking conclusion.

“I looked back with 500 metres to go and saw they were coming, and I thought either you win, or you die. And I won so I’m happy,” said a delighted Quinziato.

“I wasn’t supposed to be in the break but it was a really fast start. I was happy to end up in the break, there were 14 guys but we didn’t really believe could make it. I like the parcours, I was fourth two years ago here, I saw on the first [ascent of the] Muur I was feeling good, better than the other guys. Then I was with two strong guys, Leukemans and Lampaert.

“I’m 35, I’ve not won so many races, it doesn’t happen that often to feel good at the front of the break, so I thought no mistake, no regrets. I did exactly as I planned to do. I made a gap and the guys behind disappeared. I was flat out, thinking ‘don’t look back! Don’t look back!”

Wellens’ race has been almost a carbon copy of last year’s as he once again enjoyed a successful final-day defense of the race lead he picked up on stage 6. As was to be expected in Flanders, it was an aggressive day of racing but his white leader’s jersey was not truly threatened at any stage. Wellens had plenty of men with him at all times who were able to close gaps and bring back attackers with a modicum of fuss.

Second-placed Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) sprinted from the bunch for fourth on the day but by that stage Wellens’ victory was in the bag and he finished the race with a 59-second lead over his compatriot, with Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) third overall at 1:17.

How it unfolded

The 188.6-kilometre route from St.Pieters-Leeuw to Geraardsbergen would feature two laps of a 25-kilometre finishing circuit, with two full ascents of the Muur Van Geraardsbergen and the finish line halfway up on the third time of asking.

In between were several short cobbled climbs like the Bosberg and the Denderoordberg and with such a parcours it was no surprise to see many men keen to make it into the breakaway. 14 riders did so but they failed to build a significant advantage and the game was up for most of them when they hit the Muur for the first time.

That blew the group to pieces and from it emerged Quinziato, Lampaert, and Leukemans, a trio that would stay away for the rest of the day. Arnaud Démare and Michael Valgren were the aggressors in the bunch and soon there were multiple chase groups on the road, which eventually became one of about 10 riders. That included Simon Geschke and George Preidler (Giant-Alpecin), Dries Devenyns (IAM), Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx), Gijs Van Hoecke (Topsport), Roy Jans (Wanty), Johnny Hoogerland (Rompoot), and Rudiger Selig (Katusha).

While the make-up of the chasing pack chopped and changed over the final lap, what stayed constant was the leading trio’s advantage of just under a minute. In any case, André Greipel and the other Lotto-Soudal henchman were slowly but surely pegging the chasers back and made the catch with just over 10 kilometres to go. There were attacks off the front once more from Simon Spilak (Katusha) and others but the men in red shut them down with ease.

With a lead of over a minute, it was looking good for the trio and thoughts soon turned to tactics. Quinziato, the weakest climber of the three, could not afford to wait for the Muur, and his attack came just shy of the summit of the Denderoordberg. Lampaert lost contact immediately and it looked like Leukemans might just hang on but he too fell away as Quinziato used his power on the flat.

The Italian soon had half a minute and the result was in the bag, but not before a nervy final ascent of the Muur. The two Belgians hit the cobbles and immediately started to gain on Quinziato, who had them breathing down his neck around the final corner. In the end he won it by just seven seconds but it proved he had timed it to perfection.

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