Roelandts bests Swift in Luxembourg finale

Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol) raised his arms in victory for the first time since the 2008 Circuit Franco-Belge after soloing away from his breakaway companions in the final stage of the Tour of Luxembourg today.

Jakob Fuglsang gave RadioShack-Nissan its first stage race win of the season, coming tenth on the stage and holding onto his two second lead over stage 3 winner Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM), with teammate Frank Schleck taking third overall.

"Luxembourg is my second home so to win the national tour of Luxembourg is important to the team but also to me,” said Fuglsang. “Especially after the difficult spring I had with bad luck and injuries. It’s nice to make a comeback like this. It was the right decision for me to not start the Giro d’Italia and give my knee more time to heal. Now I have this victory and I am very, very happy. The team was riding very strong and I have to thank them.

"The team dedicated themselves to winning, and I really have to thank them all," Fuglsang said. "We had such a strong team here. Working together on all five stages made this possible and I’m so happy it worked out for us.”

The weather on the final stage was so bad that a third of the field abandoned and officials neutralized the general classification at the start of the final circuits with 47km left to race.

"I think the organization made the right decision by ending the GC battle at that point," Fuglsang said. "There was a real risk of crashes and everyone was nervous to stay upright."

Heavy rains pounded the riders as they set out for the final 158km stage from Mersch, but it was no matter to Roelandts, who escaped early into the stage with three companions: Tom Stamsnijder (Argos-Shimano), Damien Gaudin (Europcar) and Jimmy Casper (FDJ-Big Mat). The former Belgian champion claimed the three mountain primes that were on offer, and then rode away from his companions in the final 10km to claim the stage win.

The three escapees were caught by the chasing peloton, from which Ben Swift (Sky) took the sprint ahead of teammate Davide Appollonio and Kristof Goddaert (AG2R).

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