Inspired by the finish in his home town of Vlijmen, Lars Boom made the unusual choice of mixing it up with the sprinters in today's flat fourth stage of the Eneco Tour. Taking a surprising 3rd place in the bunch kick, he took over the leader's jersey and was celebrated on the podium by his home crowd.

Having made a sneaky move inside the final kilometres of yesterday's stage, Lars Boom was disappointed to miss out on the opportunity to wear the leader's jersey on today's stage by one single second. The stage finished in his home town of Vlijmen and Boom would have loved to race into the city with the coveted jersey on his shoulders.

However, the defending champion refused to give up. Defying expectations, he wanted to give his home crowd a show and so mixed it up with the sprinters in the final bunch kick. Taking a surprising 3rd behind Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Radioshack), he took enough bonus seconds to take the leader's jersey with a 1-second lead over Greipel.

“It’s fantastic to end up on the podium in your hometown,” Boom said. “We passed my house at fifty meters and rode down the street of my in-laws; that gave me a real boost. It might have something to do with Vlijmen. I was really motivated to win here and take the white jersey."

Actually, Boom had not planned to mix it up with the sprinters. Instead, his intentions were to make another late attack in the many tricky corners inside the final kilometres. When Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol) strong things out with Boom in his wheel, it was, however, impossible to escape and so Boom was forced to change his plans.

“We wanted to attack from the peloton in one of the last turns, but I was behind Jurgen Roelandts and he actually pulled so hard and long that I could just sit in his wheel and sprint normally. That was perfect," he said.

A 6-second gap opened up in the peloton and with Boom also gaining 4 bonus seconds, he added another 10 seconds to his lead on most of his GC rivals. Hence, the Dutchman has set himself well up for a title defence as the race heads into its three crucial stages.

The first of those is the hilly 13,2km time trial and Boom is confident that he will be able to defend his lead.

"It's a fairly short and explosive stage, so that suits me," he said. "Moreover, there are some climbs in the beginning, and I like that. After the Tour I’m very strong uphill.”

On a more sad note for the Belkin team, sprinter Theo Bos was forced to abandon the race.

Starting at 14.45 you can follow the time trial on CyclingQuotes.com/live.