Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) made use of the final opportunity for the sprinters in the Eneco Tour to take his first victory since the Giro d’Italia when he easily held off Luka Mezgec (Giant-Shimano) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek) in a dramatic sprint. Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) crashed hard on the finishing straight and was transported away in an ambulance while Lars Boom (Belkin) finished safely in the bunch to defend his overall lead.

 

After his highly successful Giro d’Italia and a mid-season break, Nacer Bouhanni is using the Eneco Tour to build condition for the Vuelta which is his next big goal. The first part of the race didn’t go to plan for the fast Frenchman but today he finally got the chance to contest a bunch sprint.

 

After André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) had abandoned the race due to illness, Bouhanni was the big favourite to win the first pretty calm stage of the race. The Frenchman asked his teammate to control the race after race leader Lars Boom’s Belkin team had done the early work and when it all came down to the expected sprint he didn’t disappoint his teammates.

 

Despite being on his own in the finale, Bouhanni again made use of his excellent positioning skills to jump from wheel to wheel while Trek tried to lead out Giacomo Nizzolo for the sprint. The American team ran out of power too early and so Nizzolo lost a bit of momentum as Lotto Belisol moved to the front.

 

That put Bouhanni into the perfect position as he had latched onto Jens Debusschere’s wheel and when Marcel Sieberg had swung off for Lotto and given room to the Belgian champion to launch a long sprint, Bouhanni seemed to be unbeatable. He timed his sprint perfectly and Luka Mezgec (Giant) who was glued to his wheel didn’t even try to pass him. Debusschere hit the wind too early and had to settle for fifth after going head to head with Nizzolo who took third.

 

However, the real drama had happened a few moments earlier when Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg had drifted backwards after having done his lead-out for Mezgec. The South African suddenly hit the deck which created a big crash that brought down sprinters like Alexander Porsev (Katusha) and Maximilano Richeze (Lampre).

 

The worst affected was defending champion Zdenek Stybar who had had a great day until that point as he had scored a few bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint. However, the Czech champion hit the deck hard and with his face covered with blood he was transported from the scene in an ambulance.

 

Things were less dramatic for race leader Lars Boom who finished safely in the bunch to maintain his 4-second lead over Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano). Tomorrow, however, he faces a very big test in stage 5 which is like a mini Tour of Flanders. All day the riders will be tackling the most famous hellingen before it all comes down to an exciting finale with an uphill finish on the Muur van Geraardsbergen.

 

Final flat stage

After yesterday’s first GC battle in the time trial, it was back into flat terrain for what should be the final opportunity for the sprinters in this year’s race. The first stage in Belgium brought the riders over 179.1km from Koksijde to Ardooie along completely flat road. The stage ended with two laps of a 15.4km finishing circuit that was equally flat but as strong winds and rain were forecasted, another nervous day was expected.

 

All riders who finished yesterday’s time trial took the start under cloudy conditions and they got the race off to a busy beginning. There were lots of attacks in the first part but for some time no one was able to escape.

 

Vanbilsen scores points

Just before the first Primus Checkpoint sprint which was located already at the 6.9km mark, Kenneth Vanbilsen (Topsport) and Frederik Veuchelen (Wanty) got a small gap. The former led the latter across the line to extend his lead in the sprints competition. Laurens De Vreese (Wanty) beat Tim Declercq (Topsport) and Bram Tankink (Belkin) in the sprint for the minor points.

 

The peloton slowed down and allowed the escapees to open a gap. After 14km of racing, they were 2.15 ahead and at the 30km mark, the gap was 3.40

 

Vanbilsen drops back

Belkin now assumed their position on the front of the peloton while Vanbilsen decided not to continue his attack. The Belgian fell back to the peloton while Antonine Duchesne (Europcar) abandoned, suffering from injuries sustained two days ago.

 

Moments later, one of the day’s favourites André Greipel left the race. The German had fallen ill overnight and was unable to continue the race.

 

Belkin in control

Meanwhile, Veuchelen continued his attack but Belkin kept him firmly under control. With 125km to go, he was only 3.24 ahead but then the peloton took a small breather that him to gain a bit more ground.

 

The gap reached 6.15 before Belkin again started to ride a bit harder. Maarten Wynants and Barry Markus kept it stable around the 6-minute mark before the really upped the pace after the feed zone with 75km to go.

 

FDJ start their chase

With 64km to go, the gap had come down to 5 minutes but now Belkin suddenly stopped their work. FDJ were quick to react and they put Benoit Vaugrenard on the front. The Frenchman steadily started to reduce the gap while there was a very relaxed atmosphere in the peloton.

 

That changed significantly with 50km to go when FDJ put Laurent Pichon on the front to work with Vaugrenard. At this point, the riders were about to turn into a crosswind and this made the peloton very nervous.

 

Stybar sprints for seconds

As all the big teams battled for position, the FDJ riders got swamped and Veuchelen’s advantage was melting away. With 40km to go, it was only 1.20 while Marcus Burghardt, Ian Stannard and Gert Steegmans all took turns on the front.

 

Veuchelen won the first intermediate sprint while Tom Boonen led out Stybar for the battle for second. The Czech was beaten by Van Rensburg but scored an important second by holding off Sep Vanmarcke and Boom.

 

Gretsch bridges the gap

The peloton calmed down a bit while Orica-GreenEDGE hit the front with Jens Mouris. As he stopped, Vaugrenard and Pichon went back to work and they kept the gap stable at around 30 seconds.

 

With 28km to go, Patrick Gretsch (Ag2r) launched an attack and managed to bridge the gap to Veuchelen. However, it was all in vain as the riders were now preparing the second intermediate sprint with Topsport setting the pace.

 

Vanmarcke wins the sprint

Manuel Quinziato tried an attack but was passed by Van Keirsbulck who led Stybar out for the sprint. They flew past the two escapees but it was Vanmarcke who took maximum seconds, holding off the Czech champion and Andriy Grivko (Astana).

 

Alexi Gougeard (Ag2r) launched an immediate attack but he was brought back by Topsport who were gearing up for the final Checkpoint sprint. The Belgian team kept the pace high and also brought back another attack by Gretsch.

 

Oss takes off

Topsport accomplished their mission when Vanbilsen led three of his teammates across the line in the sprint while Laurens De Vreese (Wanty) had to settle for fifth. As the peloton briefly slowed down, lots of new attacks were launched from riders like Silvan Dillier, Jesse Sergent, Paolo Longo, Jens Mouris Gediminas Bagdonas and Bauke Mollema.

 

However, it was Daniel Oss (BMC) who got a gap and as the peloton slowed down, he was suddenly 20 seconds ahead. This prompted Trek to react and they started to chase with Eugenio Alafaci, Stijn Devolder and Sergent.

 

An organized chase

Katusha with Gatis Smukulis and Mikail Ignatiev, Lotto with Stig Broeckx and Gert Dockx also started to work and they started to bring back Oss. The Italian won the final intermediate sprint though while Vanmarcke did a long sprint in the battle for second before being narrowly passed by Jens Keukeleire (Orica).

 

Sky and Movistar also started to work and with 6km to go, Oss was back in the fold. Trek now took over the pace-setting with Alafaci before Tinkoff took a short turn with Ivan Rovny.

 

Trek take control.

OPQS lined out their train on the front with Van Keirsbulck and Niki Terpstra both taking turns. With 3km to go, they were passed by Trek and it was Danny Van Poppel who brought back alate attack from Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar).

 

Just before the flamme rouge, Fabian Cancellara hit the front and he led the peloton through the final turns before Boy Van Poppel took over. However, he ran out of steam too early which allowed Sieberg to hit the front and this ended up being the perfect lead-out for Bouhanni.