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Tour of Belgium - 2.1
Belgium, May 25-29, 2005
Main Page Results Overall standings Next Stage
Stage 1 - May 25: Oostende - Oostende, 155km
Boonen, of course!
By Gabriella Ekström
Tom Boonen (Quick.Step) fulfilled all the expectations put upon him by the Belgian media and his fans by winning the first stage of the Tour of Belgium, hence taking the leader's jersey. Although being the favourite before the stage, Boonen never expected to be given the stage for free, and he admitted to the press after the finish that he never considered winning an easy task.
"It's never simple," boonen told VRT's Karl Van Nieuwkerke after the finish. "With three ProTour teams, it's difficult to control the race. Everyone looked to us, but luckily it was fast. But after 60 kilometres we could start to control it. With 10 km to go, I broke my saddle. It wasn't too bad, but it was a brand new bike."
As for Napolitano, "I know him well. I have already nearly let him surprise me in Picardie," said Boonen, who played down his ambitions for the overall victory. "Ach, in the time trial I can't do much against the specialists. I think I've done six kilometres on the time trial bike this year, and that was in Paris-Nice."
How it unfolded
After an early wave of attacks, including a fifteen man group containing Servais Knaven and Wilfried Cretskens (Quick.Step), Jan Kuyckx (Davitamon-Lotto), Mathew Hayman (Rabobank), Tom Stubbe (Chocolade Jacques), Kevin Ista and Benjamin Levécot (R.A.G.T.), David Boucher, Gorik Gardeyn and Stefan Van Dijck (MrBookmaker), Leonardo Moser (Acqua & Sapone), Nico Sijmens (Landbouwkrediet), Cédric Coutouly (Agritubel) and Steven De Champs (Profel) trying to break free, the pace settled and the riders cruised along together for almost an hour before a four man group with Alain Van Katwijk (Shimano), Igor Abakoumov and Raimondas Vilcinskas (Jartazi) and Steven De Champs (Profel) was created.
The quartet rode together for only 14 kilometres before being brought back, and equal breakaway attempts were performed by Arthur Farenhout (AXA), Pieter Mertens (Chocolade Jacques) and Jurgen Van De Walle (Landbouwkrediet) when strong crosswinds set in with 65 kilometres to go. Mikhaylo Khalilov (LPR) and Nico Eeckhout (Chocolade Jacques) joined Van De Walle, who wasn't instantly absorbed by the peloton in the wind, and while Boonen smartly positioned himself close to the front, Wim Van Sevenant (Davitamon-Lotto) bridged across to Eeckhout up front and proved to be the only one strong enough to stay with him.
The wind forced the riders to form several echelons, and the mechanics saw numerous punctures as a result of the riders being forced to ride very close to the edge of the road. As the peloton started to split up, several riders took risks greater than necessary when criss-crossing in and out between parked cars along the road side at high speeds.
Probably realising they would not last all the way to the finish, Eeckhout's and Van Sevenant's actions nevertheless stirred things up in the peloton and caused Quick.Step to start riding earlier than they would have liked. The blue and white train of the little lion kept the two Belgians at around a minute, and the peloton never once seemed to ride at its maximum. Approaching Oostende, Eeckhout and Van Sevenant brotherly shared the first sprint among them, while Quick.Step's Dimitri DeFauw snatched the last point in an explosive attack, possibly caused by irritation when the rhythm at the front got disturbed by the sprinting riders in the peloton.
Despite a number of riders looking fresh, few things happened during the first three laps around the finishing circuit. The Quick.Step riders got their share of action when Boonen broke his saddle with 12 kilometres to go. They put on a masterpiece of team work and brought him back to the front within two kilometres, only to realise that Swiss team LPR had happily taken over the job at the front. Once more, Quick.Step showed excellent tactics by sitting up and letting LPR continue their job at the front until only a few kilometres remained. Nico Eeckhout and Wim Van Sevenant, who had just been joined by Peter Van Agtmaal (AXA), were finally brought back to the peloton after having spent the last ten kilometres less than 30 seconds ahead of the peloton.
With four kilometres to go, it seemed that Boonen's train had problems finding each other, and the riders who were still at the front took advantage of LPR and Landbouwkrediet to form a mixed train, before the Quick.Step guys got hold of each other. Twice boxed in, Boonen couldn't be certain he'd win the stage until just before the line. Coming very far out on the right side of the road, Boonen was clearly the fastest rider, but had to take a few risks to get around the massive peloton where everyone gave it a shot. The only threat to Boonen was LPR's Danilo Napolitano, and Boonen admitted afterwards that he had been looking out for the Italian. As he spotted him in the middle of the road, Boonen came across the road, and slightly leaned against Napolitano as they crossed the line, but never really hampered the Italian, who wasn't as fast as Boonen.
His success today means that Boonen might be looking forward to repeat last year's win in Knokke-Heist tomorrow, this time while wearing the leader's jersey.
Results
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 3.30.03 2 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 3 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 4 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 5 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 6 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 7 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 8 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 9 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 10 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 11 Michael Simms (Aus) Profel Cycling Team 12 Nick Ingels (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 13 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Agritubel 14 Kevin Ista (Bel) R.A.G.T Semences 15 Ivan Fanelli (Ita) Team LPR 16 Maxim Rudenko (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 17 Mashahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Shimano - Memory Corp 18 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 19 Marco Bos (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 20 Robby Meul (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 21 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 22 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 23 Roman Luhovyy (Ukr) R.A.G.T Semences 24 Thomas Onghena (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 25 Bert Roesems (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 26 Rudi Kemna (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 27 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 28 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 29 Julien Smink (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 30 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Agritubel 31 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 32 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 33 Raimondas Vilcinskas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 34 Kristof De Zutter (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 35 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) Team LPR 36 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 37 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 38 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 39 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 40 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 41 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 42 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 43 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 44 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 45 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 46 Sébastien Minard (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 47 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 48 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 49 David Verheyen (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 50 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank 51 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 52 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 53 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 54 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 55 Michele Maccanti (Ita) Team LPR 56 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 57 Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 58 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 59 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 60 David Boucher (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 61 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel 62 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 63 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Team LPR 64 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 65 Leonardo Moser (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 66 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 67 John Gadret (Fra) Jartazi Granville Team 68 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank 69 Matti Helminen (Fin) Profel Cycling Team 70 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 71 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 72 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Rabobank 73 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 74 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 75 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 76 Jose Antonio Pecharroman (Spa) 77 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 78 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 79 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quickstep 80 Jos Lucassen (Ned) AXA 81 Gilles Canouet (Fra) Agritubel 82 Andries Verspeeten (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 83 Eelke Van Der Wal (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 84 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 85 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon - Lotto 86 Bart Vanheule (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 87 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank 88 Niki Terpstra (Ned) AXA 89 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quickstep 90 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 91 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 92 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 93 Claudio Astolfi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 94 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 95 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 96 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank 97 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 0.21 98 Peter Ronsse (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 0.41 99 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 100 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 101 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 102 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep 103 Emilien Berges (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 104 Xavier Hérinne (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 105 Jorn Van Der Veken (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 0.45 106 Arthur Farenhout (Ned) AXA 107 Danny Stam (Ned) AXA 108 Benjamin Levecot (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 0.59 109 Steven De Champs (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 1.21 110 Robert Slippens (Ned) AXA 1.29 111 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) AXA 1.58 112 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 4.45 DNF Olivier Kaisen (Bel) R.A.G.T Semences General classification after stage 1 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 3.29.53 2 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 0.02 3 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 0.03 4 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 0.04 5 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 0.06 6 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 0.09 7 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 8 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 9 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 0.10 10 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 11 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 12 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 13 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 14 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 15 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 16 Michael Simms (Aus) Profel Cycling Team 17 Nick Ingels (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 18 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Agritubel 19 Kevin Ista (Bel) R.A.G.T Semences 20 Ivan Fanelli (Ita) Team LPR 21 Maxim Rudenko (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 22 Mashahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Shimano - Memory Corp 23 Marco Bos (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 24 Robby Meul (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 25 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 26 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 27 Roman Luhovyy (Ukr) R.A.G.T Semences 28 Thomas Onghena (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 29 Bert Roesems (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 30 Rudi Kemna (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 31 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 32 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 33 Julien Smink (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 34 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Agritubel 35 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 36 Raimondas Vilcinskas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 37 Kristof De Zutter (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 38 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) Team LPR 39 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 40 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 41 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Jartazi Granville Team 42 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 43 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 44 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 45 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 46 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 47 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 48 Sébastien Minard (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 49 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 50 Dmitri Konychev (Rus) Team LPR 51 David Verheyen (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 52 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank 53 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 54 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team 55 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 56 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 57 Michele Maccanti (Ita) Team LPR 58 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 59 Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 60 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 61 David Boucher (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 62 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel 63 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 64 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Team LPR 65 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 66 Leonardo Moser (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 67 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 68 John Gadret (Fra) Jartazi Granville Team 69 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank 70 Matti Helminen (Fin) Profel Cycling Team 71 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 72 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 73 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Rabobank 74 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 75 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 76 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 77 Jose Antonio Pecharroman (Spa) 78 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 79 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 80 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quickstep 81 Jos Lucassen (Ned) AXA 82 Gilles Canouet (Fra) Agritubel 83 Andries Verspeeten (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 84 Eelke Van Der Wal (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 85 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 86 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon - Lotto 87 Bart Vanheule (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 88 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank 89 Niki Terpstra (Ned) AXA 90 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quickstep 91 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 92 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 93 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Shimano - Memory Corp 94 Claudio Astolfi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 95 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 96 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank 97 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 98 Peter Ronsse (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 99 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 100 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 101 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 102 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep 103 Emilien Benoit Bergès (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 104 Xavier Hérinne (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 105 Jorn Van Der Veken (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 0.55 106 Arthur Farenhout (Ned) AXA 107 Danny Stam (Ned) AXA 108 Benjamin Levecot (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 1.09 109 Steven De Champs (Bel) Profel Cycling Team 1.31 110 Robert Slippens (Ned) AXA 1.39 111 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) AXA 2.08 112 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 4.55 Points classification 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep 30 pts 2 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team LPR 25 3 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 22 4 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 21 5 Crescenzo D'Amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Adria Mobil 19 6 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 18 7 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 17 8 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen 15 9 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 13 10 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team 12 11 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Agritubel 11 12 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) AXA 10 13 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 14 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 3 15 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 3 Mountains classification 1 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 21 pts 2 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 18 3 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep 3 4 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim 3 5 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 3 Teams classification 1 Team LPR 10.30.09 2 Agritubel 3 Jartazi-Revor 4 Bodysol-Win For Life-Jong Vlaanderen 5 Shimano-Memory Corp 6 Profel CT 7 Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 8 RAGT Sémences 9 Chocolade Jacques-T Interim 10 MrBookmaker-Sportstech 11 Quick Step-Innergetic 12 Davitamon-Lotto 13 Acqua&Sapone-Adria Mobil 14 Rabobank 15 Axa Pro Cycling Team
