Andre Greipel sprinted to his second consecutive victory on stage two of the Eneco Tour as the race entered Belgium.
Phinney maintains slender race lead
Andre Greipel sprinted to his second consecutive victory on stage two of the Eneco Tour as the race entered Belgium.
The Omega Pharma-Lotto rider held off Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) on the line in Ardooie to draw another nervous day of racing to a close.
Third allowed Boasson Hagen to scoop up four bonus seconds on the line to position himself three seconds back on white jersey holder Taylor Phinney (BMC) in the on-going fight for the race lead.
Team Sky were again to the fore and played a vital part in dragging back the day’s breakaway factions before arriving with numbers at the front to set up Boasson Hagen, who duly moved into the lead in the points classification after three consecutive days in the top 10.
While Tuesday’s stage saw a number of crashes in the bunch, Wednesday’s arrival in Belgium saw an increased threat of cross-winds, sparking a constant fight to be at the head of the bunch during the final 50 kilometres.
Concerted pressure from Team Sky saw the peloton lined out causing the bunch to split temporarily, yet a sharp left turn back into a headwind was enough to allow a panicked peloton to reform in a scenario that is all too typical at the Eneco Tour.
Phinney came home sixth to maintain a now slender race lead going into Ardennes with the American’s BMC team joining Team Sky as a constant presence at the head of affairs.
Cross-wind worries
A relatively relaxed start to the day allowed a break of four to head up the road with Sam Bewley (RadioShack), Feng Han (Skil-Shimano), Rob Goris (Veranda’s Willems) and Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen) pushing on.
In what looked remarkably similar to the previous day, Michael Barry (Team Sky) spent the vast majority of the 169km test hammering out a tempo on the front, enlisting the help of team-mate Christian Knees as the duo headed up the chase efforts.
All appeared calm in the bunch until 60km to go on the approach to the Tiegemberg climb as Lars Boom and Rabobank arrived on the front for the second day in succession to try to split things up.
Up ahead, Goris and Wallays pushed on but with the gap coming down hand over fist it was not long before the Belgian duo were overhauled, despite briefly having their ranks bolstered by the arrival of Lars Bak (HTC-Highroad) and Aleksejs Saramotins (Cofidis).
Not to be deterred, Wallays and Saramotins kicked again and fought on bravely but were finally hauled back with 23km remaining after a valiant effort against a nervous and fast-moving bunch.
With tension rising at the prospect of splits there was a fight to be at the front but in the sprint that ensued there was only one man who looked like crossing the line first as Greipel took his second stage of the race.
