One day after narrowly missing out on the leader's jersey in his home town, Lars Boom finally claimed the overall lead in the Eneco Tour when he finished 9th in today's time trial. However, the Dutchman expect a hellish weekend where the current time gaps will play little role.

Lars Boom claimed the white jersey of the Eneco Tour today in Breda, the Netherlands. The Dutchman placed ninth place in stage three's time trial, enough to take the lead from Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and to maintain the points classification lead.

“I would have liked to take the jersey yesterday,” said Boom, referring to Tuesday’s stage that finished in his hometown. He was just one second short of conquering the lead. “But I’m very happy that I’ve become the new leader today. Yesterday was a beautiful day, anyway."

Boom was moderately satisfied with his TT. The difference with stage winner Tom Dumoulin of Giant-Shimano was 19 seconds.

“Tom is one of the best time trialists in the world. Of course, I would have liked to go faster, but I ended up ninth and my time is good enough. The course was short and had some nice corners.”
 

Boom now holds a four-second lead over fellow Dutchman Dumoulin.

“We will see if that’s going to be enough. I ended the Tour in good form and with a good feeling. I’m now thinking ahead to the heavy weekend.”

The peloton heads from Koksijde to Ardooie tomorrow. Boom said, “Tomorrow is still flat, but the weekend is going to be hell, I think. First we face a kind of Tour of Flanders, after that a version of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and we end the week on Sunday on a course like the Amstel Gold Race.”

Boom explained he thinks the Belkin Pro Cycling TEAM is going to show its strength over the remainder of the Eneco Tour.

“I hope to hold on to the lead until Sunday, but personally, I wouldn’t really mind if Bauke or Sep takes over the jersey. I expect that the race will end in a man-to-man battle. I think that would be the most beautiful ending possible.”