Italian launches long bid for the line and holds on in photofinish; Boonen holds lead
Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack-Nissan) became the latest rider to take his first ever victory in the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour, as he held on to take the fifth stage of the 2012 Eneco Tour between Hoogerheide, Netherlands, and Aalter, Belgium. The Italian sprinter took advantage of a little bit of confusion at the head of the peloton, as it rounded the final bend with 650 metres to go; he launched his sprint with 300 metres left and managed to hold off the attentions of Jürgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol) as he hit the line.
Roelandts, whose gears appeared to jump as he was coming out from behind Nizzolo’s slipstream, thought he had won at first, but a photofinish showed that the Italian had taken the victory by little more than the width of his deep-section rim.
Manuel Belletti (AG2R La Mondiale) finished third, having been just unable to follow Roelandts’ sprint, ahead of Arnaud Démare (FDJ-BigMat) and race leader Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), who bumped shoulders just before they hit the line.
“The final was really chaotic, like every sprint in the Eneco Tour,” said Nizzolo after the stage. “The team did a good job keeping me safe and I’d really like to thank them for their support. In the end I managed to find a good spot in the last kilometer. I think I was in tenth position between the red kite and 500m to go. I launched my sprint at 300 meters which is still far, but I managed to stay in front. I thought Roelandts had won. I returned to the bus angry and frustrated but then I saw the photo finish and I was happy again!
“My shape is really going up right now,” he added. “I came here with an ok condition but it’s improving. Yesterday it was good but today I really had good legs. I’m very happy with this win and I’m looking forward to my next races of Hamburg and Plouay [Vattenfall Cyclassics and GP Ouest-France – ed].”
The completely flat, 184.6km stage was characterised by a long break from Laurens De Vreese (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Sjef De Wilde (Accent.jobs-Willems Verandas and Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana), who escaped in the opening kilometres. They were originally in the company of Mickaël Delage (FDJ-BigMat), and the foursome was 5’10” clear after 30km, but the Frenchman elected to drop back to the peloton after just 50km, leaving the three riders up ahead.
The peloton gradually reeled the trio in however, and caught them with 26km to go, shortly before the peloton began the 22.4km finishing loop.
There then followed a battle for control of the peloton between the sprinters’ teams, but the final corner saw many of the fast men isolated, and Nizzolo was able to launch his successful sprint.
More pan-flat roads as the race passes back from the Netherlands to Belgium
Stage five was to be another completely flat stage as it crossed back from the Netherlands to Belgium, from the site of the annual cyclocross World Cup race – and the 2009 World cyclocross championships – and the finish just to the west of Gent. De Vreese, De Wilde, Muravyev and Delage got away in the opening kilometres, with De Vreese wearing the black, combativity jersey, and managed to open up a maximum lead of 5’30”.
Shortly after the first intermediate sprint, in Oesterdam after 38km, however, Delage sat up and decided to wait for the peloton, which was gradually beginning to close the gap. Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Stijn Vandenbergh was maintaining the gap at around four minutes though, before gradually speeding up in the final 50km and closing it down.
Inside the final 30km, with the gap less than a minute, Orica-GreenEdge move forward en-masse and cut it to just a few seconds. De Wilde promptly sat up, but the others persisted for a few minutes; Muravyev attacked alone, as De Vreese was pulled back, but the Kazakh was captured shortly afterwards with 26km to go.
The Australian team led the peloton up to the finish line for the first time, but it was Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) that took the intermediate sprint – taking three bonus seconds and protecting teammate Boonen from his rivals – ahead of Orica-GreenEdge duo Aidis Kruopis and Jens Mouris.
Orica-GreenEdge kept the pace high, stringing out the peloton, and were joined by Garmin-Sharp and Lotto-Belisol as the sprinters’ teams sought to keep control. With 14km to go the entire Lotto-Belisol team was lined up on the front, with climber Jelle Vanendert leading.
The Belgian team’s rival Omega Pharma-Quick Step was lurking behind however, along with Lampre-ISD, Team Sky and AG2R La Mondiale, and it was Omega Pharma-Quick Step that tried to seize control into the final ten kilometres.
As the course began to hit a series of narrow corners a number of teams began to surge forward to protect their leaders. Orica-GreenEdge, Garmin-Sharp, and then Lotto-Belisol took turns to lead the peloton; with just under four kilometres to go Theo Bos (Rabobank) touched wheels and crashed, but the Dutch sprinter was the only rider to come down.
A series of large roundabouts began to disrupt the sprinters’ trains, with several riders going around the wrong way and, in the uncertainty David Tanner (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) tried to escape with two kilometres to go, as he had done two days before. The Australian was quickly chased down by BMC Racing however, who led into the final kilometre.
Rabobank and FDJ-BigMat took over at the front as the race approached the final sweeping corner with 650 metres to go but, as the peloton exited the curve, most of the sprinters found themselves separated from their leadout men. Nizzolo launched himself with 300 metres to go, pulling clear of the rest; Roelandts pulled up to him but, as he cam out to try to overtake his gear appeared to skip.
Despite this the Belgian pulled alongside the RadioShack-Nissan rider and raised his arm as he hit the line, but a photograph showed that Nizzolo had just held on.
Eneco Tour stage 5, Hoogerheide – Aalter:
1, Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack-Nissan) 184.6 km in 4 hours 10 mins 20 secs
2, Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol Team)
3, Manuel Belletti (Ag2r-La Mondiale)
4, Arnaud Demare (FDJ-BigMat)
5, Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
6, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha Team)
7, Adam Blythe (BMC Racing Team)
8, Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar Team)
9, Aidis Kruopis (Orica-GreenEdge)
10, Michael Van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
11, Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD)
12, Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Sharp)
13, Tom Van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
14, Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Movistar Team)
15, Luke Rowe (Sky Procycling)
16, Stefan Van Dijk (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s)
17, Kristof Goddaert (Ag2r-La Mondiale)
18, Mark Renshaw (Rabobank Cycling Team)
19, Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEdge)
20, Lars Boom (Rabobank Cycling Team)
21, Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
22, David Tanner (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
23, Mickael Delage (FDJ-BigMat)
24, David Boucher (FDJ-BigMat)
25, Ben Hermans (RadioShack-Nissan)
26, Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
27, Bram Tankink (Rabobank Cycling Team)
28, Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
29, Jens Mouris (Orica-GreenEdge)
30, Danilo Hondo (Lampre-ISD)
31, Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
32, Fumiyuki Beppu (Orica-GreenEdge)
33, Christian Knees (Sky Procycling)
34, Manuele Mori (Lampre-ISD)
35, Alex Dowsett (Sky Procycling)
36, Alan Perez Lezaun (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
37, Ignatas Konovalovas (Movistar Team)
38, Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
39, Pablo Lastras Garcia (Movistar Team)
40, Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan)
41, Tanel Kangert (Astana Pro Team)
42, Tiziano Dall’Antonia (Liquigas-Cannondale)
43, Sebastian Langeveld (Orica-GreenEdge)
44, James Vanlandschoot (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s)
45, William Bonnet (FDJ-BigMat)
46, Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
47, Marcel Kittel (Argos – Shimano)
48, Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
49, Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale)
50, Pavel Brutt (Katusha Team)
51, Nick Nuyens (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
52, Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
53, Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge)
54, Luke Roberts (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
55, Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team)
56, Gatis Smukulis (Katusha Team)
57, Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas-Cannondale)
58, Daniele Pietropolli (Lampre-ISD)
59, Victor Cabade Carla (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
60, Roy Curvers (Argos – Shimano)
61, Jesus Herrada Lopez (Movistar Team)
62, Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
63, Alberto Contador Velsaco (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
64, Simon Spilak (Katusha Team)
65, Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana Pro Team)
66, Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team)
67, Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
68, Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
69, Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
70, Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
71, Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team)
72, Jonathan Nicolas Castroviejo (Movistar Team)
73, Gustav Larsson (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
74, Gabriel Rasch (FDJ-BigMat)
75, Salvatore Puccio (Sky Procycling)
76, Imanol Erviti Ollo (Movistar Team)
77, Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (Movistar Team)
78, Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team)
79, Sergey Renev (Astana Pro Team)
80, Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge)
81, Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana Pro Team)
82, Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
83, Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank Cycling Team)
84, Karsten Kroon (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
85, Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin-Sharp)
86, Rudiger Selig (Katusha Team)
87, Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp)
88, Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
89, Jens Keukeleire (Orica-GreenEdge)
90, Simon Geschke (Argos – Shimano)
91, Diego Ulissi (Lampre-ISD)
92, Gert Dockx (Lotto Belisol Team)
93, Mauro Da Dalto (Liquigas-Cannondale)
94, Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD)
95, Maarten Neyens (Lotto Belisol Team)
96, Boris Shpilevsky (Ag2r-La Mondiale)
97, Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
98, Matteo Tosatto (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
99, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team)
100, Miguel Minguez Ayala (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
101, Jimmy Casper (Ag2r-La Mondiale)
102, Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
103, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
104, Davide Appollonio (Sky Procycling)
105, Raymond Kreder (Garmin-Sharp)
106, Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
107, Arnoud Van Groen (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s)
108, Jorge Azanza Soto (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
109, Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Belisol Team)
110, Tom Veelers (Argos – Shimano)
111, Bert De Backer (Argos – Shimano)
112, Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha Team)
113, Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ-BigMat)
114, Martin Elmiger (Ag2r-La Mondiale)
115, Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos – Shimano)
116, Maxim Belkov (Katusha Team)
117, Pierre Cazaux (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
118, Matteo Bono (Lampre-ISD)
119, Robert Wagner (RadioShack-Nissan)
120, Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan)
121, Lloyd Mondory (Ag2r-La Mondiale)
122, Andreas Klier (Garmin-Sharp)
123, David Millar (Garmin-Sharp)
124, Dominik Nerz (Liquigas-Cannondale)
125, Federico Canuti (Liquigas-Cannondale)
126, Graeme Brown (Rabobank Cycling Team)
127, Steve Chainel (FDJ-BigMat)
128, Frederique Robert (Lotto Belisol Team)
129, Kenny De Haes (Lotto Belisol Team)
130, Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing Team) at 1 min 25 secs
131, Simone Ponzi (Astana Pro Team) at 1 min 39 secs
132, Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Cannondale)
133, Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
134, Daniele Righi (Lampre-ISD)
135, Jelle Vanendert (Lotto Belisol Team) at 1 min 42 secs
136, Rick Flens (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 1 min 59 secs
137, Manuel Quinziato (BMC Racing Team)
138, Markel Irizar Aranburu (RadioShack-Nissan)
139, Jeremy Hunt (Sky Procycling)
140, Sébastien Rosseler (Garmin-Sharp) at 2 mins 2 secs
141, Sander Cordeel (Lotto Belisol Team)
142, Jean-Pierre Drucker (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s)
143, Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) at 2 mins 33 secs
144, Evgeny Petrov (Astana Pro Team) at 2 mins 58 secs
145, Linus Gerdemann (RadioShack-Nissan)
146, Albert Timmer (Argos – Shimano) at 4 mins 48 secs
147, Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale)
148, Theo Bos (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 6 mins 42 secs
149, Laurens De Vreese (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) at 9 mins 41 secs
150, Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) at 9 mins 54 secs
151, Sjef De Wilde (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s)
152, Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana Pro Team)
153, Staf Scheirlinckx (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s)
154, Dominique Rollin (FDJ-BigMat)
155, Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
156, Egurrola Saez De Arregui (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
157, Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
General classification after stage 5:
1, Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) 19 hours 36 mins 26 secs
2, Jens Keukeleire (Orica-GreenEdge) at 1 secs
3, Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) at 2 secs
4, Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
5, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha Team) at 3 secs
6, Lars Boom (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 4 secs
7, Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
8, Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack-Nissan) at 5 secs
9, Jens Mouris (Orica-GreenEdge)
10, Sebastian Langeveld (Orica-GreenEdge) at 6 secs
11, Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge)
12, Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge)
13, Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) at 7 secs
14, Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
15, Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
16, Pavel Brutt (Katusha Team) at 8 secs
17, Gatis Smukulis (Katusha Team)
18, Simon Spilak (Katusha Team)
19, Bram Tankink (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 10 secs
20, Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank Cycling Team)
21, Mark Renshaw (Rabobank Cycling Team)
22, Graeme Brown (Rabobank Cycling Team)
23, Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Movistar Team) at 16 secs
24, Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 18 secs
25, Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar Team) at 19 secs
26, Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 23 secs
27, Tiziano Dall’Antonia (Liquigas-Cannondale)
28, Robert Wagner (RadioShack-Nissan)
29, Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Sharp) at 24 secs
30, Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan)
31, Ben Hermans (RadioShack-Nissan)
32, Pablo Lastras Garcia (Movistar Team)
33, Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (Movistar Team)
34, Jonathan Nicolas Castroviejo (Movistar Team)
35, Linus Gerdemann (RadioShack-Nissan)
36, Ignatas Konovalovas (Movistar Team)
37, Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan)
38, Imanol Erviti Ollo (Movistar Team)
39, Alex Dowsett (Sky Procycling) at 28 secs
40, Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
41, Mickael Delage (FDJ-BigMat) at 30 secs
42, Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 32 secs
43, Arnaud Demare (FDJ-BigMat)
44, Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
45, William Bonnet (FDJ-BigMat) at 33 secs
46, Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp)
47, David Tanner (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
48, Nick Nuyens (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
49, Alberto Contador Velsaco (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
50, Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin-Sharp)
51, Luke Roberts (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
52, David Millar (Garmin-Sharp)
53, Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol Team) at 37 secs
54, Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
55, Gustav Larsson (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
56, Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
57, David Boucher (FDJ-BigMat) at 38 secs
58, Luke Rowe (Sky Procycling) at 40 secs
59, Christian Knees (Sky Procycling) at 42 secs
60, Salvatore Puccio (Sky Procycling)
61, Simon Geschke (Argos – Shimano) at 43 secs
62, Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) at 45 secs
63, Manuele Mori (Lampre-ISD)
64, Michael Van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) at 47 secs
65, Manuel Belletti (Ag2r-La Mondiale)
66, Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
67, Daniele Pietropolli (Lampre-ISD) at 50 secs
68, Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale)
69, Diego Ulissi (Lampre-ISD)
70, Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD)
71, Lloyd Mondory (Ag2r-La Mondiale) at 51 secs
72, Tom Van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) at 52 secs
73, Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
74, Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
75, Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
76, Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ-BigMat)
77, Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana Pro Team) at 56 secs
78, Roy Curvers (Argos – Shimano) at 57 secs
79, Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos – Shimano)
80, Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana Pro Team) at 1 min 1 secs
81, Martin Elmiger (Ag2r-La Mondiale) at 1 min 5 secs
82, Jean-Pierre Drucker (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s) at 1 min 7 secs
83, James Vanlandschoot (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s) at 1 min 10 secs
84, Stefan Van Dijk (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s) at 1 min 12 secs
85, Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team)
86, Victor Cabade Carla (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 1 min 15 secs
87, Alan Perez Lezaun (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
88, Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team) at 1 min 16 secs
89, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team)
90, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) at 1 min 23 secs
91, Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 1 min 29 secs
92, Maarten Neyens (Lotto Belisol Team) at 1 min 38 secs
93, Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha Team) at 1 min 40 secs
94, Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Belisol Team) at 1 min 47 secs
95, Andreas Klier (Garmin-Sharp) at 1 min 52 secs
96, Sergey Renev (Astana Pro Team) at 1 min 57 secs
97, Tanel Kangert (Astana Pro Team) at 2 mins 2 secs
98, Danilo Hondo (Lampre-ISD) at 2 mins 6 secs
99, Gert Dockx (Lotto Belisol Team)
100, Mauro Da Dalto (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 2 mins 19 secs
101, Markel Irizar Aranburu (RadioShack-Nissan) at 2 mins 23 secs
102, Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team) at 2 mins 28 secs
103, Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
104, Karsten Kroon (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank)
105, Aidis Kruopis (Orica-GreenEdge) at 2 mins 31 secs
106, Tom Veelers (Argos – Shimano) at 2 mins 41 secs
107, Bert De Backer (Argos – Shimano)
108, Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) at 3 mins 6 secs
109, Frederique Robert (Lotto Belisol Team) at 3 mins 21 secs
110, Simone Ponzi (Astana Pro Team) at 3 mins 26 secs
111, Rudiger Selig (Katusha Team) at 3 mins 56 secs
112, Pierre Cazaux (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 4 mins 9 secs
113, Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing Team) at 4 mins 23 secs
114, Matteo Tosatto (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) at 4 mins 38 secs
115, Fumiyuki Beppu (Orica-GreenEdge) at 4 mins 40 secs
116, Jesus Herrada Lopez (Movistar Team) at 4 mins 43 secs
117, Kristof Goddaert (Ag2r-La Mondiale) at 4 mins 56 secs
118, Adam Blythe (BMC Racing Team) at 4 mins 57 secs
119, Evgeny Petrov (Astana Pro Team) at 5 mins 11 secs
120, Kenny De Haes (Lotto Belisol Team) at 5 mins 17 secs
121, Jorge Azanza Soto (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 5 mins 20 secs
122, Maxim Belkov (Katusha Team) at 5 mins 25 secs
123, Dominik Nerz (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 5 mins 30 secs
124, Steve Chainel (FDJ-BigMat) at 5 mins 41 secs
125, Daniele Righi (Lampre-ISD) at 5 mins 49 secs
126, Raymond Kreder (Garmin-Sharp) at 5 mins 52 secs
127, Marcel Kittel (Argos – Shimano) at 6 mins 11 secs
128, Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team) at 6 mins 22 secs
129, Sébastien Rosseler (Garmin-Sharp) at 6 mins 30 secs
130, Jeremy Hunt (Sky Procycling) at 6 mins 46 secs
131, Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 7 mins 36 secs
132, Davide Appollonio (Sky Procycling) at 7 mins 57 secs
133, Arnoud Van Groen (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s) at 8 mins 0 secs
134, Gabriel Rasch (FDJ-BigMat) at 8 mins 20 secs
135, Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 8 mins 34 secs
136, Federico Canuti (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 8 mins 37 secs
137, Sander Cordeel (Lotto Belisol Team) at 8 mins 40 secs
138, Manuel Quinziato (BMC Racing Team) at 8 mins 55 secs
139, Miguel Minguez Ayala (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 9 mins 0 secs
140, Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEdge) at 9 mins 14 secs
141, Jelle Vanendert (Lotto Belisol Team) at 9 mins 57 secs
142, Theo Bos (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 10 mins 6 secs
143, Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) at 10 mins 46 secs
144, Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 11 mins 9 secs
145, Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) at 11 mins 32 secs
146, Laurens De Vreese (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) at 11 mins 33 secs
147, Dominique Rollin (FDJ-BigMat) at 11 mins 44 secs
148, Jimmy Casper (Ag2r-La Mondiale) at 12 mins 4 secs
149, Sjef De Wilde (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s) at 14 mins 15 secs
150, Matteo Bono (Lampre-ISD) at 14 mins 38 secs
151, Rick Flens (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 15 mins 24 secs
152, Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana Pro Team) at 19 mins 50 secs
153, Albert Timmer (Argos – Shimano) at 20 mins 25 secs
154, Staf Scheirlinckx (Accent Jobs – Willems Veranda’s) at 21 mins 15 secs
155, Boris Shpilevsky (Ag2r-La Mondiale) at 22 mins 41 secs
156, Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 24 mins 2 secs
157, Egurrola Saez De Arregui (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 28 mins 13 secs