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Tour of Belgium - 2.1
Belgium, May 25-29, 2005
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Stage 4 - May 28: Londerzeel - Visé, 232km
Strong Boonen keeps it together
Kuyckx stage winner after late attack
By Gabriella Ekström
The longest stage of Tour of Belgium also turned out to be the hardest. Tom Boonen's Quick.Step team was exhausted, and was lucky that Landbouwkrediet wanted another stage win via Van Loocke, and therefore helped Quick.Step control the stage. Boonen finished fourth behind Davitamon-Lotto's Jan Kuyckx who attacked a helpless and uncontrolled peloton with 300 metres to go, and won the stage rather easily. Boonen remains in the black leader's jersey, and should sit securely in it during tomorrow's last stage.
"This is my specialty," said Kuyckx to Sporza. "I had super legs. I was really good the whole day and also know the parcours very well. At the end, I went for my chance, with success. To jump away and hold it, that's where I'm strong."
Race leader Boonen was happy with the way things turned out, despite sitting up and losing a few bonus seconds for third place. "Something can always go wrong on Sunday, but it should be OK," said Boonen. "The fourth stage was extremely tough. The speed was tremendously high, but the team rode really strongly and so we could keep everything under control. This will definitely be nice on my calling card. Winning on Sunday is not so important, but to control the race is."
How it unfolded
It became clear yesterday afternoon that Quick.Step would try a new tactic during Saturday's 232 kilometre killer stage. A bit surprisingly, Jose Antonio Pecharroman and Servais Knaven didn't use the 15 kilometre time trial as a rest stage, but both rode a hard race and finished tenth respectively eleventh, and Pecharroman's ride was enough to put him in sixth place on the GC. Pecharroman was then in a position where he, if he got in a attack during stage 4, could ease the pressure on Boonen.
Unfortunately for Quick.Step, that didn't happen, instead Mathew Hayman (Rabobank) was the first rider to get away, and he was followed by Paul Van Schalen (AXA), Wouter Van Mechelen (Chocolade Jacques), Christophe Agnolutto (Agritubel) and Julien Smink (Shimano). With Van Mechelen 8th in the GC, 1.19 behind Boonen, that break was doomed from the start, but again Quick.Step had to work hard early in the stage.
With 195 kilometres to go, Eeckhout then sprinted for the bonification points and was followed by Jef Peeters (Chocolade Jacques) and Matthé Pronk (Rabobank). The two latter riders continued their attack while Eeckhout slipped back into the peloton again. Peeters and Pronk were caught by the speeding peloton shortly after, and the distance raced in the first hour was 47.7 kilometres.
Quick.Step seemed to, or had to, relax a bit after that, and a break with Niki Terpstra (AXA), Igor Abakoumov (Jartazi), Sjef De Wilde (Bodysol), Dimitri Konyshev (LPR), Christophe Agnolutto and Gilles Canouet (Agritubel), Nico Sijmens (Landbouwkrediet), Jeremy Hunt (MrBookmaker), Fredrik Willems (Chocolate Jacques), Nils Scheuneman (Rabobank), Preben Van Hecke and Nico Mattan (Davitamon-Lotto) went away shortly after.
Despite the fact that this break contained Fredrik Willems at 1.53, it was let go. With 170 kilometres to go, it as very early to start hunting them down, and the 12-man group built a gap of five minutes. Van Hecke at 2.09 and Konyshev at 2'47 in the GC proved very strong, and took great responsibility for the breakaway. Quick.Step sensed the danger but couldn't ride like they had done on the previous stages, saving Hulsmans, Pecharroman and Boonen for the finale, instead all three of them hit the front with Knaven as well, but they were in for a tough time.
Davitamon's Wim Vansevenant who was tenth in the GC at 1.24 put some pressure on Boonen as soon as the road started to rise, and Boonen had no choice but taking the led himself. The fact that Landbouwkrediet hoped for a bunch sprint probably helped, and Acqua&Sapone also sent the odd rider to the front. The distance to the break crept down, but it was in no way certain that the peloton would catch the front riders who were now reduced to six after De Wilde, Agnolutto, Sijmens, Hunt, Willems and Mattan had let go over Cote de Halembaye.
When the break was down to thirty seconds the counter attacks started, and Jukka Vastaranta (Rabobank) 15th on the GC, 1.32 down and Denys Kostyuk (Jartazi) 9th GC, 1.19 down, took their chances to put time in between themselves and Boonen, and Mikhaylo Khalilov (LPR) 19th GC, 1.36, down followed to put the man in black under even more pressure. Boonen himself had to react and took great responsibility in bringing them back, as well as catching the break with only kilometres left to race.
The peloton arrived at the finish in Visé with no team performing a proper lead out, and Boonen was still at the front, preparing for the sprint when Jan Kuyckx jumped with three hundred meters to go. Boonen started his own sprint but sat down in disappointment when he saw that he wouldn't catch Kuyckx. Steven Caethoven (Chocolade Jacques) passed him to take second, and Stefan Van Dijck (MrBookmaker was third).
The stage ended in a dramatic way for Jartazi's Maxim Rudenko who hit a barrier just before the finish and imitated Baden Cooke while sending his bike several metres over the heads of the sprinting riders. He later stood up and walked away, and seemed to have avoided serious injuries.
Results
1 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 5.14.44 2 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 4 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 5 Marco Bos (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 6 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 7 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 8 Ivan Fanelli (Ita) Team LPR 9 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 10 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 11 Kristof De Zutter (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 12 Roman Luhovyy (Ukr) R.A.G.T Semences 13 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 14 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 15 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 16 Robby Meul (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 17 Thomas Onghena (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 18 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) AXA 19 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank 20 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 21 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 22 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 23 Julien Smink (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 24 Xavier Hérinne (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 25 Bert Roesems (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 26 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 27 Maxim Rudenko (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 28 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Agritubel 29 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 30 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 31 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 32 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 33 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank 34 Andries Verspeeten (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 35 Raimondas Vilcinskas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 36 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 37 Gilles Canouet (Fra) Agritubel 38 Matti Helminen (Fin) Profel Cycling Team 39 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 40 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 41 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 42 Jos Lucassen (Ned) AXA 43 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 44 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 45 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank 46 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 47 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 48 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 49 José Antonio Pecharroman Fabian (Spa) Quickstep 50 John Gadret (Fra) Jartazi Granville Team 51 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 52 Nick Ingels (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 53 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 54 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 55 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 56 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 57 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 58 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 59 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 60 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 0.32 61 Niki Terpstra (Ned) AXA 0.41 62 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Rabobank 0.46 63 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 1.22 64 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 4.18 65 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Agritubel 7.23 66 Steven De Champs (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 67 Michael Simms (Aus) Profel Cycling Team 68 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 69 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel 70 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 71 Rudi Kemna (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 72 Arthur Farenhout (Ned) AXA 73 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 74 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 75 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Team LPR 76 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quickstep 9.23 77 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 78 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 79 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 80 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 81 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon - Lotto 82 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank 83 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quickstep 84 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 85 Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 86 Sébastien Minard (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 87 Emilien Benoit Bergès (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 88 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 89 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 90 Peter Ronsse (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 91 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 92 David Verheyen (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 93 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 11.14 94 Bart Vanheule (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 95 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 18.40 96 Leonardo Moser (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 19.17 97 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 98 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 99 Danny Stam (Ned) AXA 100 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) Team LPR 101 Robert Slippens (Ned) AXA 102 Jorn Van Der Veken (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 103 Kevin Ista (Bel) R.A.G.T Semences 104 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago DNF Claudio Astolfi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil DNS David Boucher (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech DNS Dominique Cornu (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen General classification after stage 4 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 15.27.43 2 Bert Roesems (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 0.24 3 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Agritubel 0.33 4 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 0.53 5 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 0.58 6 José Antonio Pecharroman Fabian (Spa) Quickstep 1.08 7 Maxim Rudenko (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 1.17 8 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 1.19 9 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 10 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 1.24 11 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 12 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 1.27 13 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 1.32 14 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank 15 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 1.34 16 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 1.35 17 Marco Bos (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 18 Raimondas Vilcinskas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 19 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 1.36 20 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 21 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 1.37 22 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 1.38 23 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 1.42 24 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 1.47 25 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 1.53 26 Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 1.56 27 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank 2.00 28 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 2.04 29 Nick Ingels (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 2.22 30 Julien Smink (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 2.25 31 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 2.39 32 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 2.46 33 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 2.47 34 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 2.48 35 Ivan Fanelli (Ita) Team LPR 3.06 36 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 3.18 37 Matti Helminen (Fin) Profel Cycling Team 6.00 38 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 7.39 39 Gilles Canouet (Fra) Agritubel 7.44 40 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank 7.49 41 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 7.51 42 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 8.03 43 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 8.18 44 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 8.24 45 Andries Verspeeten (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 8.34 46 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 8.36 47 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 8.49 48 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Rabobank 8.51 49 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 8.56 50 Roman Luhovyy (Ukr) R.A.G.T Semences 9.04 51 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 9.09 52 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 9.17 53 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Team LPR 9.28 54 Thomas Onghena (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 9.31 55 John Gadret (Fra) Jartazi Granville Team 9.35 56 Robby Meul (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 9.36 57 Kristof De Zutter (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 9.47 58 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 9.52 59 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 60 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 10.11 61 Michael Simms (Aus) Profel Cycling Team 10.41 62 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) AXA 10.45 63 Niki Terpstra (Ned) AXA 10.48 64 Jos Lucassen (Ned) AXA 11.05 65 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quickstep 11.10 66 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 67 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 11.13 68 Xavier Hérinne (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 11.15 69 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 11.21 70 Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 11.54 71 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quickstep 12.24 72 Steven De Champs (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 12.27 73 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 12.45 74 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 13.27 75 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 13.36 76 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 15.32 77 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 15.36 78 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 16.03 79 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Agritubel 16.34 80 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel 16.47 81 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 17.02 82 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 17.18 83 Rudi Kemna (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 17.58 84 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon - Lotto 18.10 85 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 18.21 86 Emilien Benoit Bergès (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 18.25 87 Arthur Farenhout (Ned) AXA 88 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank 19.11 89 Sébastien Minard (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 19.12 90 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 19.34 91 Bart Vanheule (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 20.12 92 David Verheyen (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 20.21 93 Peter Ronsse (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 20.52 94 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 21.08 95 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 21.49 96 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 27.24 97 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 28.06 98 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 29.09 99 Leonardo Moser (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 29.41 100 Danny Stam (Ned) AXA 29.51 101 Kevin Ista (Bel) R.A.G.T Semences 30.26 102 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) Team LPR 30.59 103 Jorn Van Der Veken (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 31.07 104 Robert Slippens (Ned) AXA 32.46 Points classification 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 104 pts 2 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 77 3 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 75 4 Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 56 5 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 51 6 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 36 7 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 36 8 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 30 9 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 30 10 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Agritubel 30 11 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 30 12 Marco Bos (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 29 13 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 25 14 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 22 15 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 21 16 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 18 17 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 17 18 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 15 19 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 15 20 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 14 21 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 13 22 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 12 23 Ivan Fanelli (Ita) Team LPR 12 24 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 10 25 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 10 26 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 10 27 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 9 28 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 8 29 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 5 30 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 5 31 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 32 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 3 33 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 3 34 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 3 35 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 3 Sprints classification 1 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 40 pts 2 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 18 3 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 13 4 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 10 5 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 9 6 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 8 7 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 8 8 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 5 9 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 5 10 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 5 11 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 5 12 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 3 13 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 3 14 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 15 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 3 16 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 17 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 3 Teams classification 1 Davitamon-Lotto 45.49.30 2 Chocolade Jacques-T Interim 0.33 3 Rabobank 0.41 4 Jartazi-Revor 0.45 5 Bodysol-Win For Life-Jong Vlaanderen 0.54 6 Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 1.11 7 Shimano-Memory Corp 1.13 8 MrBookmaker-Sportstech 1.52 9 Team LPR 3.17 10 Profel Cycling Team 6.41 11 Agritubel 7.35 12 Quickstep-Innergetic 8.54 13 RAGT Sémences 14.48 14 Acqua &Sapone-Adria Mobil 16.37 15 Axa Pro Cycling Team 23.27
