Lars Boom lost the leader's jersey in today's stage of the Eneco Tour but the Dutchman is still confident as the race heads into the Ardennes. Despite the harder terrain that should suit him a bit less, he promises to continue his fight all the way to the end.

The Belkin Pro Cycling TEAM and Lars Boom fought with everything they had to hold on to the Eneco Tour lead, but after stage five finishing in Geraardsbergen, Belgium, they lost it to Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano). Boom placed fifth behind stage winner Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and dropped to second overall at two seconds, but he remains optimistic.

“I’ve lost the jersey, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t keep fighting for the remainder of the race," said Boom. "We have done that already, and we will continue to do so.”

Boom was able to fight with the best on and around the Muur van Geraardsbergen.

“Yesterday, wasn’t a very good day, but today, I felt good again. Van Avermaet won and was the strongest. He attacked at the right moment. I was a little further back at that point.”
 

Boom expects that the final two days will make for some spectacular racing.

“It’s going to be a good battle with Dumoulin, but he’s not the only one. There are other guys who are going to make it hard for us. We’ll see a big fight over the weekend.”
 

With Sep Vanmarcke in the top ten overall, as well, Merijn Zeeman agreed with Boom.

“Just as today, the strongest riders will fight for the victory tomorrow. Normally, the course isn’t really in Lars’ favour, but he’s performing very well. Bauke Mollema lost time today and dropped in the GC, but in a supportive way, he’s still going to be very important. He needs to guide Lars and Sep through the Ardennes.”

The jersey is no longer with the team but Zeeman doesn’t see that as a disadvantage.

“Today, we took our responsibility again, but defending a jersey isn’t easy. The Team Belkin boys did a very good job today, now it’s up to Giant-Shimano. We’ll find ways to give them a hard time.”