Greipel grabs field sprint victory

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André Greipel took advantage of some well-timed work from his HTC-Columbia teammates and then a high-speed lead-out from Team Sky to win stage two of the Eneco Tour.

With a 15km finishing circuit on twisting roads testing the riders' bike handling skills, HTC-Columbia opted to avoid the fight for the front until six kilometres from the finish and then surged to the front as a unit on a section of road buffeted by a headwind.

The bunch was shuffled as several teams tried to take control of the peloton and then Team Sky massed on the front to lead out defending Eneco Tour champion Edvald Boasson Hagen. The 23-year-old Norwegian opened up his sprint first but Greipel had cleverly got on his wheel and surged past him as the line approached.

Stage one winner Robbie McEwen (Katusha) was also there. He perhaps had the speed to win but hesitated slightly about which way to pass Boasson Hagen and was unable to catch Greipel before the line. Despite crashing on the finishing circuit, Lucas Haedo (Saxo Bank) came back to finish fourth.

Canada's Svein Tuft (Garmin-Transitions) finished 31st in the same time as the sprinters and so kept the overall race lead. He is now just three seconds ahead of Boasson Hagen, who picked up four bonus seconds for his third place finish.

It was Greipel's 17th victory of the 2010 season but surely not the last before he leaves HTC-Columbia to join Omega Pharma-Lotto in 2011.

"It was pretty dangerous to try and keep position in the bunch so we decided with the team to wait until six kilometres to go before moving up. It worked really well," Greipel said.

"I'm really happy. My teammates trusted me and I trusted them. Everyone gave me great support today. I spoke to Renshaw and we decided that we need to make the sprint before the hard left turn with 1.4km to go. He brought me to a great position on Edvald Boasson Hagen's wheel and I was pretty happy with that. This is our first goal reached and now everything we achieve on top of this is a bonus."

Early break of three

The stage was again shaped by a three-rider early break that was gradually reeled in during the final hour of the race. Vitaliy Buts (Lampre-Farnese Vini), Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen) opened a six-minute gap but were absorbed by the peloton on the approach to the finish. Neirynck and Minguez tried one last dig to stay away but the peloton came back together with eight kilometres to go.

The narrow streets and several tight turns caused some problems for the peloton but many of the riders at the Eneco Tour are used to riding the classics and handled the bike paths, concrete roads and traffic furniture with apparent ease. Fortunately the weather was also dry and sunny. Only a few riders punctured or took a tumble.

After two sprint stages, the weeklong race adds an extra twist on Friday as the race hits the Flemish roads used for the Spring Classics.

The 191.5km third stage around the town of Ronse includes many of the short, often cobbled climbs that are used in the Tour of Flanders. The Oude Kwaremont comes just 11km from the finish after a series of 15 other similar climbs which should produce some spectacular racing.

The Eneco Tour ends next Tuesday with a 16.9km time trial in Genk, Belgium.