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Tour of Belgium - 2.1
Belgium, May 25-29, 2005
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Stage 2 - May 26: Oostende - Knokke-Heist, 165km
Boonen wins the knokke in Knokke
By Gabriella Ekström
Wise from yesterday where Boonen's teammates lost track of each other with only kilometres to go, the white and blue Quick.Step train made no mistakes today. Perfectly delivered to the line by loyal teammates, Tom Boonen repeated the pattern of the first stage and added a few more seconds between himself and Nico Eeckhout of Chocolade Jacques in the fight for the jet black leader's jersey.
"I merely finished off the nice work of my team," said Boonen to Sporza post-stage. "With the first break of the day, there were four men from Quick.Step. I didn't want to ride, per se. Eeckhout asked me to do something. Once it regrouped we went hard. It worked. A few time trialists were surprised."
Boonen is not completely ruling out the final victory now, thanks to his bonus seconds. "Ah, we'll see. I can time trial. It's also only 15 km, eh. It'll depend on the form on the day, but I have ambitions."
How it unfolded
The action started early in the stage when Masahiro Shinigawa (Shimano-Memory Corp) and Michele Maccanti (LPR) went down and were taken to a hospital for closer observation. It was later reported that both seemed to have avoided serious injuries.
Shortly after the start 27 riders tried to break away, and the presence of Quick.Step was notable as they put four of their riders in the early break. The group that contained Sébastien Rosseler, Servais Knaven, Kevin Hulsmans, Wilfried Cretskens (Quick.Step), Jan Kuyckx (Davitamon-Lotto), Jan Boven and Mathew Hayman (Rabobank), Tom Stubbe and Wouter Van Mechelen (Chocolade Jacques), Xavier Hérinne (R.A.G.T.), Matthé Pronk, Erwin Thijs and Stefan Van Dijck (MrBookmaker), Maxime Monfort, Nico Sijmens and Jurgen Van De Walle (Landbouwkrediet), Linas Balciunas and Gilles Canouet (Agritubel), Rudi Kemna and Marco Bos (Shimano), Alessandro Maserati and Dmitri Konyshev (LPR), Robby Meul and Maxim Rudenko (Jartazi), Arthur Farenhout and Niki Terpstra (AXA) didn't last too long, and after they had been brought back, the peloton kept a steady but high pace, recording 46 km/h for the first hour.
Kristof De Zutter (Bodysol-Jong Vlaanderen) showed his team colours during a short attack, but was brought back by the Quick.Step team, which had already started to control the race. With 95 kilometres to go, it looked like a break would be allowed to go, and after a few attempts, two groups containing Dimitriy Konyshev (LPR) and David Boucher (MrBookmaker) and Steven De Neef (Bodysol-Jong Vlaanderen) and Steven De Champs (Profel) succeeded in getting away. The two Stevens caught Konyshev and Boucher and the four man break they created built up a five minute gap over just 10 kilometres.
Although having the grace of the peloton at first, that was to change when the crosswinds set in. Race leader Tom Boonen saw how serious the situation was becoming because of the wind, and went to the front of the peloton and pulled like a working horse. The peloton that only contained three ProTour teams broke up in the wind, and the second group lacked the routine or will to quickly create the echelon they needed.
Quick.Step and Chocolade Jacques didn't hesitate once, but drove on while the gap to the bigger group containing Nico Mattan among others, grew bigger. The greatest part of Mattan's Davitamon team sat in the first group as well, but showed little will to wait for Mattan, who eventually lost several minutes and is no longer a contender for the overall.
The Chocolade Jacques team were on a mission to bring back the break before the sprints, but had to see Boucher win the two first sprints because of the amount of time the break had been given by the peloton at first. When the third and last sprint came up, the break was finally neutralized, and it was clear that Nico Eeckhout wanted the three bonus seconds that would give him the virtual lead. Quick.Step looked as if they were going to die hard, but after some fist fighting at the front, they seemed to back off and allowed Nico to take the points.
As the finish was coming up, Johan Verstrepen (Landbouwkrediet) and later Laurens Ten Dam (Shimano) tried their luck in short attacks, but Quick.Step had it all under control. During the last ten kilometres, Boonen sat securely behind Kevin Hulsmans and Guido Trenti, while LPR's Danilo Napolitano and Nico Eeckhout fought for Boonen's wheel with both hands and shoulders. Never bothered by the commotion behind him, Boonen was once again the strongest sprinter, only slightly challenged by Ukrainian Mikhailo Khalilov (LPR).
Despite having lost a lot of energy fighting for the position behind Boonen, Eeckhout sprinted well to take third and four more bonus seconds, and thereby keeps only a small margin of five seconds to the leader with tomorrow's double stage coming up.
Results
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 3.47.05 (43.65 km/h) 2 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 3 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 4 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 5 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Agritubel 6 Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 7 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 8 Marco Bos (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 9 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 10 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 11 Ivan Fanelli (Ita) Team LPR 12 Michael Simms (Aus) Profel Cycling Team 13 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 14 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 15 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 16 Julien Smink (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 17 Maxim Rudenko (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 18 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank 19 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 20 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 21 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 22 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 23 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 24 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 25 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 26 Raimondas Vilcinskas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 27 Bert Roesems (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 28 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 29 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 30 Nick Ingels (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 31 David Boucher (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 32 Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 33 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 34 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 35 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Team LPR 36 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 37 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 38 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 39 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 40 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank 41 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 42 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 43 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 44 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 45 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quickstep 46 José Antonio Pecharroman Fabian (Spa) Quickstep 47 Steven De Champs (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 48 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 49 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 0.18 50 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 0.54 51 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quickstep 52 Matti Helminen (Fin) Profel Cycling Team 4.18 53 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 6.30 54 Rudi Kemna (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 55 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) AXA 56 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 57 Andries Verspeeten (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 58 Jos Lucassen (Ned) AXA 59 Sébastien Minard (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 60 Emilien Benoit Bergès (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 61 Xavier Hérinne (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 62 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank 63 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Rabobank 64 Kevin Ista (Bel) R.A.G.T Semences 65 John Gadret (Fra) Jartazi Granville Team 66 Bart Vanheule (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 67 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 68 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 69 Claudio Astolfi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 70 Peter Ronsse (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 71 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) Team LPR 72 Niki Terpstra (Ned) AXA 73 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 74 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 75 Roman Luhovyy (Ukr) R.A.G.T Semences 76 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 77 David Verheyen (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 78 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 79 Leonardo Moser (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 80 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 81 Robby Meul (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 82 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 83 Jorn Van Der Veken (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 84 Thomas Onghena (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 85 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 86 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 87 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 88 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 89 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 90 Kristof De Zutter (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 91 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 92 Robert Slippens (Ned) AXA 93 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 94 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 95 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 96 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 97 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 98 Danny Stam (Ned) AXA 99 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Agritubel 100 Gilles Canouet (Fra) Agritubel 101 Arthur Farenhout (Ned) AXA 102 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel 103 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 104 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 105 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon - Lotto 106 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank 107 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep 108 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team DNF Michele Maccanti (Ita) Team LPR DNF Masahiro Shinawaga (Jpn) Shimano - Memory Corp DNF Eelke Van Der Wal (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp DNF Benjamin Levecot (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences General classification after stage 2 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 7.16.48 2 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 0.05 3 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 0.13 4 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 5 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 0.14 6 David Boucher (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 7 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 0.16 8 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 9 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 0.18 10 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 0.19 11 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 12 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Agritubel 0.20 13 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 14 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 15 Michael Simms (Aus) Profel Cycling Team 16 Ivan Fanelli (Ita) Team LPR 17 Marco Bos (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 18 Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 19 Maxim Rudenko (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 20 Nick Ingels (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 21 Julien Smink (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 22 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 23 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 24 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 25 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 26 Bert Roesems (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 27 Raimondas Vilcinskas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 28 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank 29 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 30 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 31 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 32 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 33 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 34 Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 35 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 36 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 37 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Team LPR 38 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 39 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 40 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 41 José Antonio Pecharroman Fabian (Spa) Quickstep 42 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quickstep 43 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank 44 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 45 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 0.28 46 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 0.37 47 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 1.01 48 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 49 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 1.13 50 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quickstep 51 Steven De Champs (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 1.41 52 Matti Helminen (Fin) Profel Cycling Team 4.38 53 Kevin Ista (Bel) R.A.G.T Semences 6.50 54 Rudi Kemna (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 55 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 56 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 57 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 58 Roman Luhovyy (Ukr) R.A.G.T Semences 59 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 60 Robby Meul (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 61 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 62 Sébastien Minard (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 63 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) Team LPR 64 Thomas Onghena (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 65 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 66 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 67 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 68 Kristof De Zutter (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 69 David Verheyen (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 70 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 71 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Agritubel 72 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank 73 John Gadret (Fra) Jartazi Granville Team 74 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 75 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Rabobank 76 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 77 Jos Lucassen (Ned) AXA 78 Andries Verspeeten (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 79 Leonardo Moser (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 80 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 81 Bart Vanheule (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 82 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 83 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 84 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 85 Niki Terpstra (Ned) AXA 86 Claudio Astolfi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 87 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 88 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel 89 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 90 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 91 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 92 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 93 Gilles Canouet (Fra) Agritubel 94 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon - Lotto 95 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 96 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank 97 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 7.11 98 Emilien Benoit Bergès (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 7.31 99 Xavier Hérinne (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 100 Peter Ronsse (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 101 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 102 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep 103 Jorn Van Der Veken (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 7.35 104 Danny Stam (Ned) AXA 105 Arthur Farenhout (Ned) AXA 106 Robert Slippens (Ned) AXA 8.19 107 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) AXA 108 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 11.35 Points classification 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 60 pts 2 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 51 3 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 38 4 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 38 5 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 22 6 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 21 7 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 19 8 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 19 9 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 18 10 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Agritubel 17 11 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 17 12 David Boucher (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 16 13 Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 15 14 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 15 15 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 14 16 Marco Bos (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 12 17 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 12 18 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 10 19 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 10 20 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 6 21 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 5 22 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 23 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 3 24 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 3 Sprints classification 1 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 29 pts 2 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 18 3 David Boucher (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 16 4 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 10 5 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 6 6 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 5 7 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 8 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 3 9 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 10 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 3 Teams classification 1 Team LPR 21.51.24 2 Agritubel 3 Jartazi-Revor 4 Chocolade Jacques-T Interim 5 Quickstep-Innergetic 6 Bodysol-Win For Life-Jong Vlaanderen 7 Shimano-Memory Corp 8 MrBookmaker-Sportstech 9 Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 10 Davitamon-Lotto 11 Rabobank 12 Profel Cycling Team 4.18 13 Acqua&Sapone-Adria Mobil 6.30 14 RAGT Sémences 13.00 15 Axa Pro Cycling Team 19.30
