Greipel wins again in Heers

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HTC-Columbia continued to dominate the Eneco Tour during the toughest stage in the Ardennes hills, with André Greipel winning the stage and Tony Martin holding onto the race leadership before the final time trial stage on Tuesday.

Greipel had worked hard during the stage to help Martin, even going back to the team car for bottles, but still had the speed to beat Belgium's Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Edvald Boasson Hagen in the sprint.

"It wasn't an easy day, but I won," Greipel said with a proud smile.

"On the last climb I was really struggling and went over the top in last place. However I managed to get back on and with 800 metres to go I decided to give it a go. It worked and that makes it a special victory. It's my 18th win of the season and boost my confidence for the world championships. My form is good and I hope to hold until October."

Tony Martin finished tenth on the stage and thanks to second place in the final intermediate sprint, he pulled back one second on main rival Koos Moerenhout (Rabobank) before the 16.9km time trial around Genk.

Overall victory would be a perfect swan song for the veteran Dutchman before he retires at the end of the season, but Martin has proved he is a world class time trialist and will surely win his first ever ProTour stage race.

Attacks on the Mur

With the 205.6km stage dotted with steep climbs in the Ardennes, the stage was the last chance for Tony Martin's rivals to cause him problems before the time trial stage. Several tried, especially Riche Porte (Saxo Bank), but HTC-Columbia carefully marshaled the peloton with all the team doing long spells on the front the peloton.

Mario Aerts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil) formed the early break of the day and stayed out front over the Mur de Huy at the 157km point, but attacks by Linus Gerdemann (Milram) and Porte over the top of the Mur de Huy, and then by Tiago Machado (RadioShack) reduced the gap rapidly and split the peloton.

The Mur d'Amay was the last 'wall' of the stage and caused further problems but a select front group stayed together and finally swept up the early break, leaving a group of around 30 riders at the end of affairs.

A section of cobblestones in the final 10km of the stage added further spice to the day, with Gert Steegmans (RadioShack) going on the attack. Lars Boom (Rabobank) joined the Belgian up front but he was an overall threat and was not allowed to get away, especially with both Team Sky and Liquigas-Doimo hoping to win the stage.

Team Sky chased a final attack in the last kilometre and again rode to set up Boasson Hagen in the sprint. They got it right but he hit the front too early and acted as a perfect lead out man for Greipel, who came around him and surged past him with the line in sight.

It was a relatively easy sprint for Greipel to win but he had worked hard throughout the stage to still be up and take his chance.

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