Eneco Tour 2008 - Stage 6

The sixth and penultimate stage of the Eneco Tour from Maldegem to Brussels over 186 km is won by Norwegian talent Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia). In the chaotic sprint he was faster than Jimmy Engoulvent and Sergei Ivanov. André Greipel remains in the overall lead with the final stage, a time-trial in Mechelen to come.

The stage started this afternoon with 111 riders as Sebastian Siedler (Skil-Shimano) and Dennis Haueisen (Milram) didn't start. After 42 km of racing we got a large break of nineteen riders namely: Mathew Hayman (Rabobank), Bram Tankink (Rabobank), Sébastien Rosseler (Quick Step), Benoît Joachim (Astana), Berik Kupeshov (Astana), Michael Rogers (Team Columbia), Andreas Klier (Team Columbia), Floris Goesinnen (Skil-Shimano), Robert Wagner (Skil-Shimano), Luca Barla (Team Milram), Frederik Willems (Liquigas), David Kopp (Cycle Collstrop), Jimmy Engoulvent (Credit Agricole), Jerome Coppel (Française Des Jeux), Frank Hoj (Cofidis, le Credit Par Telephone), Romain Villa (Cofidis, le Credit Par Telephone), Lars Ytting Bak (Team CSC) and Matteo Bono (Lampre).

The maximum gap of the break was around the one minute but as Rosseler and Rogers were the best ranked riders in the break they didn't get a free to go. Also due to the fact that Silence-Lotto missed the break. After 136 km of racing most of the riders of the break were caught.

After the first intermediate sprint won by Bram Tankink we got a new break of nine riders. The nine; Floris Goesinnen (Skil-Shimano), Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner), Leif Hoste (Silence-Lotto), Bram De Groot (Rabobank), Mauro Da Dalto (Liquigas), Marco Marcato (Cycle-Collstrop), Anders Lund (CSC), Frank Hoj (Cofidis) and Jimmy Engoulvent (Credit Agricole). The best ranked riders of the break are Marco Marcato and Anders Lund. Marcato is 27th overall at 57 seconds and Anders Lund 28th at 1.19 of race leader André Greipel.

The nine worked well together and got a maximum lead of around the three minutes. The final two intermediate sprints were won by Anders Lund and Bram de Groot while the three KOM sprints (Muur of Geraardsbergen, Bosberg and Bruine Put) are won by Floris Goesinnen, who secured his overall win in the mountains competition.

With 30 km to go the gap of the nine was still around the two minutes and they really had a good chance to battle for the stage win. Columbia, Quick Step and Francaise des Jeux joined forces in the bunch and bit by bit the gap came down. With 5km to go the gap was still 30 seconds.

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia) the winner of stage 6!
Photo © 2008 Bart Hazen

With 2 km to go Floris Goesinnen and Sven Krauss attacked but without success and under the banner of the final kilometer the break was almost caught. Jimmy Engoulvent went on and it looked like he was going to win the stage but in the final 15 meter of the race Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia) passed him to win the stage in Brussels.
For Hagen it's a great win as he wanted to take revenge from missing the break a day ago. Hagen started the Eneco Tour with the intention to do well in the GC.

The final stage on Wednesday will be a 18,8 km time-trial in Mechelen. This stage will decide over the overall win. The best riders against the clock who are still competing for the overall win are Gutierrez, Rogers, Devolder, Rosseler and Posthuma. All will give their best for the overall win.

Team Columbia report: Boasson Hagen wins stage six at the Eneco Tour
Team Columbia continued to dominate the results at the Eneco Tour ProTour race in Belgium on Tuesday, with Edvald Boasson Hagen using his power and speed to win and Andre Greipel retaining the overall race lead.

A nine-rider breakaway looked set to fight out the finish but Team Columbia did a lot of work to chase the riders and then Boasson Hagen finished things off perfectly by jumping past late attacker Jimmy Engoulvent within sight of the finish line.

Andre Greipel finished just behind in fourth place, in the same time as Boasson Hagen, and so retained the overall race lead for yet another day.

21 year-old Boasson Hagen had hoped to challenge for overall victory in the Eneco Tour and was always close to the lead after an excellent prologue time trial. He became virtual race leader on stage five after taking a time bonus but then lost more than 14 minutes and any chance of overall victory when the front of the peloton split in the strong cross winds. His stage victory made up for some of the disappointment of missing out overall and it was a valuable lesson for the young rider.

“This is kind of revenge for what happened yesterday,” Boasson Hagen said.

“It was a real pity to lose so much time and so any chance of overall victory. I took the sprint and became leader on the road but then I went a bit too far back in the peloton and they attacked at the front. I tried to chase but it was impossible and so I lost a lot of time.”

Boasson Hagen is in his first season as a major professional but has already won the GP Denain in France, the final time trial stage at the Criterium International and has been well placed in many other major races. He is widely considered one of the stars of the future.

The Eneco Tour ends on Wednesday with an 18.8km individual time trial and Team Columbia will be looking for both stage and overall success.

Andre Greipel will start last as race leader and will try and defend the special white leader’s jersey from time trial specialist Jose Ivan Gutierrez of the Caisse d’Epargne team. The Spaniard won the Eneco Tour last year in the final time trial and is favourite to do it again this year but Greipel will be giving everything he can to win the ProTour race.

Result - Stage 6
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Columbia 4.07.20
2 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Crédit Agricole
3 Sergei Ivanov (Rus) Astana
4 André Greipel (Ger) Team Columbia
5 Jürgen Roelandts (Bel) Silence - Lotto
6 Elia Rigotto (Ita) Team Milram
7 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas
8 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC - Saxo Bank
9 Roger Hammond (GBr) Team Columbia
10 Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Ned) Skil-Shimano
11 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole
12 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux
13 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia
14 Carlo Westphal (Ger) Gerolsteiner
15 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank
16 Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank
17 Borut Bozic (Slo) Cycle Collstrop
18 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Scott - American Beef
19 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
20 David Kopp (Ger) Cycle Collstrop
21 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank
22 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quick Step
23 Koen De Kort (Ned) Astana
24 Matthé Pronk (Ned) Cycle Collstrop
25 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank
26 Francisco Javier Aramendia (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
27 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano
28 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quick Step
29 Aaron Kemps (Aus) Astana
30 Jesús Del Nero (Spa) Scott - American Beef

André Greipel remains in the overall lead with one stage to go.
photo c. 2008 Yoni Peeters

Ranking after stage 6
1 André Greipel (Ger) Team Columbia 26.04.46
2 José Iván Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.11
3 Jürgen Roelandts (Bel) Silence - Lotto 0.12
4 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quick Step 0.15
5 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia 0.18
6 Koen De Kort (Ned) Astana
7 Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank 0.19
8 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank 0.21
9 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step 0.22
10 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.24
11 Borut Bozic (Slo) Cycle Collstrop
12 Carlo Westphal (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.27
13 Frederik Willems (Bel) Liquigas 0.29
14 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quick Step 0.31
15 Laurent Mangel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
16 Sergei Ivanov (Rus) Astana
17 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick Step 0.32
18 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 0.34
19 Marco Velo (Ita) Team Milram 0.35
20 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.44
21 Andreas Klier (Ger) Team Columbia
22 Servais Knaven (Ned) Team Columbia 0.46
23 Roger Hammond (GBr) Team Columbia
24 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0.48
25 Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank 0.50
26 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step 0.51
27 Marco Marcato (Ita) Cycle Collstrop 0.55
28 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 1.15
29 David Kopp (Ger) Cycle Collstrop 1.59
30 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre 2.11

Full Result

Remaining Stages
Stage 7: Mechelen (B) - Mechelen (B), 18,8 km

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