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Tour of Belgium - 2.1
Belgium, May 24-28, 2006
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage
Stage 5 - May 28: Hoei-Putte, 182.7 km
De Jongh errs, Steegmans profits, Tjallingii excels again
By Jeff Jones
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A small lead out error by Quick.Step's Steven de Jongh prevented Tom Boonen from taking his third stage win in this year's Tour of Belgium. Instead it was Gert Steegmans (Davitamon-Lotto) who rode a great sprint to anticipate everyone and hold off Max van Heeswijk (Discovery Channel) and Tom Boonen for the victory in the final stage.
Steegmans explained the sprint afterwards, which he had to start from a long way back. "Leif Hoste was on the wheel of Van Heeswijk and left a gap," he said. "I went when I saw Steven de Jongh had boxed in Boonen. I think De Jongh made a small error for Tom and I could profit."
Meanwhile, race leader Maarten Tjallingii and his Skil-Shimano team defended the leaders jersey well in the final stage, with a little help from Rabobank Continental. No dangerous break was allowed to get away and Tjallingii showed his strength to finish eighth at the end. "This is really fantastic," he grinned. "I have only dreamed of this since my win in the first stage. Now it's there."
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Beating ProTour riders is no mean feat, and Tjallingii can probably expect some nice offers in the future. But he said that he had "no idea" of what the future will bring. "I'll think about it tomorrow. I'd like to ride for a ProTour team but my manager Luuc Eisenga is concerned with that. But I feel good with Skil-Shimano. The team is fantastic and there will be lots more nice races with them this year.
How it unfolded
The final stage over started in Huy at 11:30, with 104 riders enjoying the dry conditions. The stage was relatively flat and finished with four laps of a 15 km circuit in Putte. Dmitriy Muravyev (Jartazi-7Mobile) was the first attacker of the day after 5 km, but was not allowed to go. Then it was attack and counter attack with the westerly wind making life difficult. Three echelons formed after 10 km, with Quick.Step well to the fore, along with race leader Maarten Tjallingii and a few of his Skil-Shimano teammates. Eventually after 30 km, the bunch regrouped.
In Brustem after 33 km, Luis Pasamontes (Unibet) attacked, and was joined by Roger Hammond (Discovery Channel), Frederik Veuchelen (Chocolade Jacques), Nico Sijmens (Landbouwkrediet) and Lars Boom (Rabobank Continental). But that moved wasn't allowed more than five kilometres of freedom, as the bunch averaged 45 km/h in the first hour.
Another group of 15, including Hammond again along with Tosatto (Quick.Step) and Leukemans (Davitamon) tried to get clear, but again it lasted no more than five kilometres. Unfortunately for Leukemans, he crashed after 80 km when he was riding next to the team car. He was taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a fractured shoulder blade. But before his crash, Jurgen Van Goolen (Discovery Channel) had managed to attack, and was joined by Nick Nuyens (Quick.Step) and Nico Sijmens (Landbouwkrediet). Tjallingii was also active in front of the peloton.
The three gained a minute after 72 km. Davitamon-Lotto chased and it came back to 15 seconds, so that Leon van Bon could get across. Then they sat up and the now four man break gained more time until Chocolade Jacques started to work, later joined by Unibet. After two hours, the average speed was 43 km/h.
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Tom Boonen punctured after 100 km, but he was able to chase back onto the bunch with the help of Tosatto and Van Impe. 10 km later, the four leaders were finally caught by the peloton, just in time for Kevin Neirynck (Landbouwkrediet - Colnago) to counter. It was an excellent move, and he quickly gained a minute as Skil-Shimano rode tempo with some friendly help from Rabobank Continental.
Neirynck passed the finish line in Putte for the first time with around a minute's lead, but he still had four laps to travel. He took the first Rush sprint a few km later, with Max van Heeswijk and Roger Hammond combining well to take second and third, and a few handy bonus seconds for Max. At three laps to go, the leader was just half a minute ahead of the well controlled peloton. He took the second rush on the second lap ahead of a speedy Niko Eeckhout (Chocolade Jacques) and Hammond.
At 40 km to, a counter move split off from the bunch with the active Hammond going with Jarno van Mingeroet (Jartazi), Jorgen Vercammen and Kenny Van Braeckel (both Profel). The quartet quickly caught Neirynck and edged out to 30 seconds with two laps to go. By this time, the chase had been strengthened by Bodysol.
In the final sprint, it was Hammond ahead of Neirynck and Vercammen with the bunch now at 38 seconds. That was as big as the gap got because Quick.Step and Unibet.com combined forces with one Davitamon-Lotto to chase the leaders at a solid tempo. At one lap to go, the gap was 25 seconds, and despite a bridge across to the leaders by Marlon Perez (Tenax), everyone was back in the bunch with 5 km left.
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Quick.Step, Discovery Channel and Davitamon-Lotto got their sprint trains on the rails, and it was lights, camera, action for a bunch sprint. But the winner was a surprise: Gert Steegmans (Davitamon-Lotto). There were three left ahead of Boonen at 1 km to go, with De Jongh as last man, then Van Heeswijk, Cooke and Hoste on the train. Hoste let a gap go, forcing Steegmans to come around him from behind. Then the big Belgian thought he may as well keep going, and when De Jongh finally gave Boonen enough room to sprint in, it was too late. Steegmans won the stage, with Van Heeswijk second and Boonen third.
Eighth place, showing his excellent consistency, was Maarten Tjallingii, who had no problems defending his lead at the Tour of Belgium from start to finish.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by AFP Photo
- Gert Steegmans (Davitamon-Lotto) takes the final stage from Max Van Heeswijk (Discovery Channel) and Tom Boonen (Quickstep-Innergetic)
- The jersey winners - Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Tenax Salmilano, sprints), Maarten Tjallingii (Skil-Shimano, overall), Tom Boonen (Quickstep-Innergetic, points)
- The GC podium - Sébastien Rosseler (Quickstep-Innergetic, 2nd), Maarten Tjallingii (Skil-Shimano, 1st) and Max Van Heeswijk (Discovery Channel, 3rd)
- No more "Maarten who?" - the Skil-Shimano rider put himself on the map with a strong defence of the leader jersey he took on the first stage.
Results
1 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 4.15.36 (42.89 km/h) 2 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 4 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic 5 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 6 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 0.03 7 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 8 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano 9 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 0.04 10 Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 11 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 12 Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Yawadoo-Colba-ABM 0.07 13 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Jartazi-7Mobile 14 Thomas Ongena (Bel) Profel Ziegler Continental Team 15 Sven Nys (Bel) Rabobank (Continental) 16 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life-Jong Vlaanderen 17 Honorio Machado Perez (Ven) Team Tenax Salmilano 0.09 18 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 19 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 20 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 21 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quickstep-Innergetic 22 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Rabobank (Continental) 23 Leif Hoste (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 24 Jean-Paul Simon (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 25 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 26 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life-Jong Vlaanderen 27 Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Spa) Unibet.com 28 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Rabobank (Continental) 29 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Unibet.com 30 Yuri Mitlushenko (Ukr) Team L.P.R. 31 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 32 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 33 Matti Helminen (Fin) Profel Ziegler Continental Team 34 Maarten Neyens (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life-Jong Vlaanderen 35 Roger Hammond (GBr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 36 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) Team LPR 37 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life-Jong Vlaanderen 38 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 39 Christoph Meschenmoser (Ger) Skil-Shimano 40 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 41 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 42 Mario Aerts (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 43 Marc Streel (Bel) Pôle Continental Wallon Davitamon-Euro Millions 44 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 45 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Jartazi-7Mobile 46 David McPartland (Aus) Team Tenax Salmilano 47 William Walker (Aus) Rabobank (Continental) 48 Maarten Wijnants (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 49 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 50 Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 51 Kenny Van Braeckel (Bel) Profel Ziegler Continental Team 52 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) Jartazi-7Mobile 0.20 53 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank (Continental) 54 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Team Tenax Salmilano 55 Alessandro Bertuola (Ita) Team Tenax Salmilano 56 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 57 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon-Lotto 58 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com 0.31 59 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank (Continental) 0.33 60 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank (Continental) 61 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Skil-Shimano 62 Andreas Dietziker (Swi) Team LPR 63 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.47 64 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 65 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 0.54 66 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 1.11 67 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Unibet.com 1.22 68 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 1.24 69 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic 70 Bart Dockx (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 71 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 4.27 72 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil-Shimano 73 Jorgen Vercammen (Ned) Profel Ziegler Continental Team 5.19 Final general classification 1 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano 20.18.15 2 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 0.32 3 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.44 4 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 0.51 5 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 1.25 6 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 1.27 7 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 1.36 8 Sven Nys (Bel) Rabobank (Continental) 1.43 9 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic 2.09 10 Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 2.11 11 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 2.26 12 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 3.01 13 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Unibet.com 3.33 14 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Rabobank (Continental) 4.10 15 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic 5.43 16 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon-Lotto 8.12 17 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 9.59 18 Christoph Meschenmoser (Ger) Skil-Shimano 10.09 19 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com 10.18 20 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 11.10 21 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 13.01 22 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 13.24 23 William Walker (Aus) Rabobank (Continental) 14.07 24 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 15.23 25 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 15.52 26 Roger Hammond (GBr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 16.17 27 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Jartazi-7Mobile 16.35 28 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 16.36 29 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) Team LPR 16.53 30 Yuri Mitlushenko (Ukr) Team L.P.R. 17.07 31 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life-Jong Vlaanderen 17.09 32 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quickstep-Innergetic 17.11 33 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 17.21 34 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank (Continental) 17.34 35 Mario Aerts (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 17.48 36 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life-Jong Vlaanderen 18.00 37 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 38 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 18.44 39 Andreas Dietziker (Swi) Team LPR 18.47 40 Jean-Paul Simon (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 19.00 41 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life-Jong Vlaanderen 19.08 42 Bart Dockx (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 19.24 43 Thomas Ongena (Bel) Profel Ziegler Continental Team 19.37 44 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 19.48 45 Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Pôle Continental Wallon Davitamon-Euro Millions 21.01 46 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank (Continental) 21.31 47 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Team Tenax Salmilano 22.02 48 Maarten Wijnants (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 22.06 49 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 22.24 50 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 22.28 51 Leif Hoste (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 22.45 52 David McPartland (Aus) Team Tenax Salmilano 22.57 53 Kenny Van Braeckel (Bel) Profel Ziegler Continental Team 23.33 54 Matti Helminen (Fin) Profel Ziegler Continental Team 24.08 55 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Skil-Shimano 24.38 56 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Unibet.com 25.07 57 Honorio Machado Perez (Ven) Team Tenax Salmilano 25.19 58 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Rabobank (Continental) 25.29 59 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank (Continental) 25.34 60 Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Spa) Unibet.com 25.36 61 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 25.37 62 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Jartazi-7Mobile 25.42 63 Maarten Neyens (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life-Jong Vlaanderen 26.00 64 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 26.26 65 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 26.52 66 Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 27.58 67 Marc Streel (Bel) Pôle Continental Wallon Davitamon-Euro Millions 28.06 68 Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Yawadoo-Colba-ABM 28.56 69 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 31.17 70 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil-Shimano 32.02 71 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) Jartazi-7Mobile 32.48 72 Jorgen Vercammen (Ned) Profel Ziegler Continental Team 34.29 73 Alessandro Bertuola (Ita) Team Tenax Salmilano 39.42 Points classification 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 107 pts 2 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 102 3 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano 77 4 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 77 5 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 71 6 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Team Tenax Salmilano 62 7 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 61 8 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic 56 9 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 47 10 Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 30 11 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 25 12 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 24 13 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 22 14 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 17 15 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol- Win for Life-Jong Vlaanderen 17 16 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 15 17 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 13 18 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 13 19 Sven Nys (Bel) Rabobank (Continental) 12 20 Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 8 21 Bart Dockx (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 5 22 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Jartazi-7Mobile 3 23 Jorgen Vercammen (Ned) Profel Ziegler Continental Team 3 Sprints classification 1 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Team Tenax Salmilano 43 pts 2 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 24 3 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Unibet.com 19 4 Roger Hammond (GBr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 14 5 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 13 6 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano 11 7 David McPartland (Aus) Team Tenax Salmilano 10 8 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 8 9 Honorio Machado Perez (Ven) Team Tenax Salmilano 8 10 Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 8 11 Bart Dockx (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 5 12 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 5 13 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 3 14 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Jartazi-7Mobile 3 15 Jorgen Vercammen (Ned) Profel Ziegler Continental Team 3 Mountains classification 1 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 37 pts 2 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Team Tenax Salmilano 31 3 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel) Jartazi-7Mobile 12 4 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Unibet.com 12 5 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 12 6 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Ubbink-Syntec Cycling Team 10 7 William Walker (Aus) Rabobank (Continental) 10 8 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 10 9 Elio Aggiano (Ita) Team LPR 7 10 Maarten Wijnants (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 2 Teams classification 1 Quickstep-Innergetic 48.03.52 2 Rabobank Cont 6.29 3 Unibet.com 8.39 4 Davitamon-Lotto 19.39 5 Skil-Shimano 20.33 6 Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 22.51 7 Discovery Channel 26.18 8 Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 36.49 9 Team LPR 38.59 10 Jartazi-7 Mobile 43.35 11 Bodysol-Win for Life-Jong Vlaanderen 55.02 12 Tenax-Salmilano 58.45 13 Profel-Ziegler CT 59.19
