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Tour of Belgium - 2.1
Belgium, May 25-29, 2005
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage
Stage 5 - May 29: Visé - Putte, 175km
MrBookmaker cleans up on final stage
Boonen safely home for overall win
By Gabriella Ekström
For the fifth time in six occasions (five if you don't count the time trial), the stage win in the Tour of Belgium was decided in a bunch sprint. And although race leader Tom Boonen (Quickstep) seemed ready to pounce in the final 250 metres for his third stage win, the big Belgian was closed in and had to let the others contest the sprint, with MrBookmaker pair Stefan Van Dijk and Jeremy Hunt taking first and second, with Jurgen Van Loocke (Landbouwkrediet) in third.
"I was blocked in and couldn't jump," Boonen told Sporza afterwards. "I didn't bother going for eighth place."
On top of yesterday's long and furious stage, the Quick.Step riders also knew that they had to control the stage today in order to bring Boonen into Putte with the black leader's jersey securely on his shoulders. Thanks to his more than loyal teammates, Boonen didn't have to face any serious threats to his GC lead during the last stage between Visé and Putte, and when finishing just behind the sprinting riders in Putte, he secured the jersey he took control over when he won the first stage of the race. Except for the leader's jersey, Tom Boonen also brought home the yellow points jersey, earned by taking two wins and finishing second twice in five days.
"I tested myself a few times and I could always do what I wanted," added Boonen. "A good test for the Tour, but there should be more to come."
Chocolade Jacques rider Nico Eeckhout won the sprinter's jersey, thanks to his long breakaway in the first stage where he built up solid ground in the sprint classification.
How it unfolded
The blue and white Quickstep team did not place any of their riders in the early breaks, despite having Jose Antonio Pecharroman as sixth on the GC. Perhaps the other riders would have seen through that tactic. Instead they were left to chase early in the stage once again. The first break of the day got away after seven kilometres and contained Mathew Hayman (Rabobank), Geert Omloop (Mr Bookmaker), Cédric Coutouly (Agritubel), Rudi Kemna (Shimano) and Jos Lucassen (Axa). Mikhaylo Khalilov (LPR) and a slightly beat up Maxim Rudenko (Jartazi) joined them shortly before they were all caught by the peloton.
After 30 kilometres of racing, Niels Scheuneman (Rabobank), Pieter Mertens (Chocolade Jacques), Matthé Pronk (Mr Bookmaker), Denis Bertolini (Acqua & Sapone), Alain Van Katwijk (Shimano) and Andries Verspeeten (Profel) formed a new group only to be released by the break that would finally last. The group that built up a three minute lead consisted of Ronald Mutsaars (Rabobank) Sébastien Minard (RAGT), Erwin Thijs (MrBookmaker), Saulius Ruskys (Agritubel), Julien Smink (Shimano), Arthur Farenhout (Axa) and Jarno Van Mingeroet (Profel), and they were let away despite the fact that Thijs was 13th on the GC, 1'32 behind Boonen at the start of the stage.
However, Quickstep was reluctant to give them too much freedom, and tried to keep the gap at a comfortable 1'30 most of the time. Thijs, who had the most to win in the break, was also the one rider who worked hardest, while Smink and Mutsaars spent a lot of time following wheels. This caused a uneven pace, and worked in the favour of the chasing peloton. Given the fact that Quickstep didn't have to chase the break all the way to the line, but could afford allowing them around a minute, more teams joined in at the front towards the end to make sure the break was brought all the way back, including the Chocolade Jacques team who were setting up Eeckhout, and Landbouwkrediet who were working for Van Loocke.
The riders in the breakaway increased the speed towards the end when Mutsaars and also Farenhout started to do more turns at the front, but the peloton could not be fooled. They were being reeled in by the peloton, which was once more controlled by the Quickstep team. With eight kilometres to go, Davitamon's Jan Kuyckx tried to repeat yesterday's recipe for success by attacking, but this time he was brought back.
Despite QuickStep showing ambitions to take part in the sprint, Boonen didn't participate in the end and instead the MrBookmaker duo Stefan van Dijck and Jeremy Hunt surprised, jumping clear to take first and second. Chocolade Jacques' Jurgen Van Loocke, who seemed to have recovered after a disastrous stage four, took third.
Results
1 Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 3.54.58 2 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 3 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 4 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 5 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 6 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 7 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 8 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 9 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 10 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 11 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 12 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 13 Thomas Onghena (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 14 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 15 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 16 Steven De Champs (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 17 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 18 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 19 Kristof De Zutter (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 20 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 21 Maxim Rudenko (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 22 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 23 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Agritubel 24 Jos Lucassen (Ned) AXA 25 Kevin Ista (Bel) R.A.G.T Semences 26 Bert Roesems (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 27 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 28 Nick Ingels (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 29 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 30 Robby Meul (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 31 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 32 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 33 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 34 Marco Bos (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 35 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank 36 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 37 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) Team LPR 38 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 39 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Agritubel 40 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 41 Andries Verspeeten (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 42 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 43 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 44 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 45 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 46 Bart Vanheule (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 47 Matti Helminen (Fin) Profel Cycling Team 48 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 49 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 50 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 51 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 52 José Antonio Pecharroman Fabian (Spa) Quickstep 53 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon - Lotto 54 Michael Simms (Aus) Profel Cycling Team 55 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 56 Raimondas Vilcinskas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 57 Rudi Kemna (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 58 Peter van Agtmal (Ned) 59 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quickstep 60 Roman Luhovyy (Ukr) R.A.G.T Semences 61 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 62 Julien Smink (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 63 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 64 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 65 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 66 Gilles Canouet (Fra) Agritubel 67 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank 68 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 69 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 0.16 70 David Verheyen (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 0.19 71 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 72 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 73 John Gadret (Fra) Jartazi Granville Team 74 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 0.29 75 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Rabobank 76 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 0.32 77 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 78 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 79 Jorn Van Der Veken (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 80 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank 81 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 82 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 83 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 84 Xavier Hérinne (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 85 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 86 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel 87 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 0.41 88 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 0.54 89 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Team LPR 0.55 90 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 1.03 91 Emilien Benoit Bergès (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 1.10 92 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 1.34 93 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quickstep 94 Robert Slippens (Ned) AXA 95 Ivan Fanelli (Ita) Team LPR 96 Leonardo Moser (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 1.58 97 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 98 Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 99 Peter Ronsse (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 2.20 100 Arthur Farenhout (Ned) AXA 3.47 101 Danny Stam (Ned) AXA 102 Sébastien Minard (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 4.27 103 Niki Terpstra (Ned) AXA DNF Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank Final general classification 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 19.10.25 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 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 1.23 11 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 1.24 12 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 13 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 1.27 14 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank 1.32 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 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 1.36 20 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 1.37 21 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 1.38 22 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 1.42 23 Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 1.46 24 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 1.47 25 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 1.53 26 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank 1.56 27 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 2.04 28 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 2.08 29 Julien Smink (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 2.21 30 Nick Ingels (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 2.22 31 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 2.39 32 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 2.46 33 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 2.48 34 Ivan Fanelli (Ita) Team LPR 3.06 35 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 3.18 36 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 3.19 37 Matti Helminen (Fin) Profel Cycling Team 6.00 38 Gilles Canouet (Fra) Agritubel 7.44 39 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 7.51 40 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 8.03 41 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 8.11 42 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 8.18 43 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank 8.21 44 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 8.24 45 Andries Verspeeten (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 8.34 46 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 8.49 47 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 8.52 48 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 8.56 49 Roman Luhovyy (Ukr) R.A.G.T Semences 9.04 50 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Rabobank 9.20 51 Thomas Onghena (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 9.31 52 Robby Meul (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 9.36 53 Kristof De Zutter (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 9.47 54 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 9.49 55 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 9.52 56 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 57 John Gadret (Fra) Jartazi Granville Team 9.54 58 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 10.11 59 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Team LPR 10.23 60 Michael Simms (Aus) Profel Cycling Team 10.41 61 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) AXA 10.45 62 Jos Lucassen (Ned) AXA 11.05 63 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quickstep 11.10 64 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 11.15 65 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 11.21 66 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 11.32 67 Xavier Herinne (Bel) R.A.G.T Semences 11.47 68 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 12.13 69 Steven De Champs (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 12.27 70 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 13.17 71 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 13.21 72 Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 13.52 73 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quickstep 13.58 74 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 15.10 76 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 15.55 77 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 16.04 78 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Agritubel 16.34 79 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 16.35 80 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 17.02 81 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel 17.19 82 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 17.47 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 18.53 86 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 19.34 87 Emilien Benoit Bergès (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 19.35 88 Bart Vanheule (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 20.12 89 David Verheyen (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 20.40 90 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 21.08 91 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 21.49 92 Arthur Farenhout (Ned) AXA 22.23 93 Peter Ronsse (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 23.12 94 Sébastien Minard (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 23.38 95 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 27.24 96 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 29.00 97 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 29.05 98 Kevin Ista (Bel) R.A.G.T Semences 30.26 99 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) Team LPR 30.59 100 Jorn Van Der Veken (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 31.39 101 Leonardo Moser (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 102 Danny Stam (Ned) AXA 33.38 103 Robert Slippens (Ned) AXA 34.20 Points classification 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 104 pts 2 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 90 3 Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 86 4 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 85 5 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 52 6 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 51 7 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 51 8 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 36 9 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 31 10 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 30 11 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Agritubel 30 12 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 30 13 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 29 14 Marco Bos (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 29 15 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 28 16 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 27 17 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 27 18 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 25 19 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 25 20 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 22 21 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 21 22 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 18 23 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 15 24 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 14 25 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 13 26 Ivan Fanelli (Ita) Team LPR 12 27 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 10 28 Julien Smink (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 10 29 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 10 30 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 9 31 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 8 32 Arthur Farenhout (Ned) AXA 8 33 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 5 34 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 35 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 3 36 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 3 37 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 3 38 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 3 39 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 3 40 Sébastien Minard (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 3 Sprints classification 1 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 40 pts 2 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 29 3 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 18 4 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 13 5 Julien Smink (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 10 6 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 10 7 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 9 8 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 8 9 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 8 10 Arthur Farenhout (Ned) AXA 8 11 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 5 12 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 5 13 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 5 14 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 3 15 Sébastien Minard (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 3 16 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 3 17 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 3 18 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 19 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 3 20 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 21 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 3 Teams classification 1 Davitamon-Lotto 57.34.24 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
