Farrar wins Eneco stage and takes overall lead

Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Slipstream continued his string of successes by winning the first stage of the Eneco Tour and taking over the leader's jersey. In a crash-marred mass sprint, Farrar beat Belgian national champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Columbia-HTC) to the line.

The closing sprint was marred by a mass crash very close to the finish line and slightly behind the lead riders. Koldo Fernandez (Euskaltel), Koen De Kort ( Skil-Shimano), Baden Cooke (Vacansoliel), Sebastian Turgot (Bbox Bougues Telecom) and Gorik Gardeyn (Silence-Lotto) were among those who went down.

"I'm in the shape of my life", Farrar said after the stage. He started out the season with a bad crash in Milano-Sanremo, which took him out for six weeks. “I was already better in the Tour, but couldn't win against a superior Mark Cavendish, which was frustrating.

“Now I'm even better. I'm in a really super form from France and want to take advantage of it.”

The 25-year-old, who on Sunday won the Vattenfall Cyclassics and finished second in Tuesday's prologue, gave his team credit. “My teammates were 100 percent in my service and I rewarded them for their work with this victory. Like in Hamburg, a special mention for Christopher Sutton. Outstanding work from him in the last five kilometres!”

Farrar sympathised with his colleagues who went down in the last few metres. “I just saw the replay on a large screen during the podium celebration. Such falls are always bad, I don't like to see my colleagues crash.”

It was another hot summer day in Aalter, Belgium, as the peloton took off. Only 18 kilometres into the stage, five riders escaped. Lars Ytting Bak (Saxo Bank), Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas), Yukiya Arashiro (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Wim De Vocht (Vacansoliel) and Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport-Vlaanderen) quickly built up a lead on the main group, achieving a maximum gap of 3:50.

After 85 kilometres, a crash took down Luis Pasamontes (Caisse d'Epargne) and Milram sprinter Wim Stroetinga. Both had to drop out of the race, Pasamontes with a suspected concussion and Stroetinga with a broken collarbone.

The chase was led as expected by Quick Step, with riders first and third overall, and Garmin-Slipstream, whose Tyler Farrar is second overall.

The work by the sprinters' teams worked, as the gap started going down with 70 kilometres to go. Their lead melted to under three minutes as the chasers kept the escapees on a long leash, not pushing themselves too hard on the very hot day, but slowly cutting the lead.

With 25 kilometres to go, Vanspeybrouck became the first rider in the break to crack, leaving four riders in front. Shortly thereafter Bak and De Vocht had to pay tribute to their long ride in the high heat, leaving Bodnar and Arashiro alone with a slight gap.

The two went into the final 15-kilometre circuit with a mere 50-second lead over the Quick Step-led peloton. Bodnar tried to pull away, but the Japanese rider didn't give up and followed him.

There was bad luck for the sprinters in the finale, as both Robert Förster (Milram) and Boonen had flat tyres in the last 10 km. Both made it back to the peloton, but Boonen may have used up just enough energy to cost him the closing sprint.

With six kilometres remaining Bodnar attacked again and this time the Japanese rider couldn't follow. It didn't bring much, though, as Bodnar was finally caught by the peloton only one kilometre later. Liquigas moved to the front to set up the mass sprint.