In a washed out fifth stage at the Eneco Tour to Sittard, in Amstel Gold Race territory, Georg Preidler has raced to a strong seventh place, battling not only the other riders in the race but brutal weather conditions on the way to the finish.

After a hard fight early in the stage for a breakaway to establish itself on the rolling 180km stage, two riders finally broke clear and set about building their advantage. Despite being controlled by the peloton, the two matched the pace of the chasers in the final kilometres and managed to pull off the unexpected and stage clear of the rest with Johan Le Bon (FDJ) moving clear in the final kilometres to victory.

Behind the two the attacks started to fly as riders realized that the chances of catching the two in front were becoming slimmer and slimmer, and also with the worsening wet weather conditions it was safer out front rather than in the bunch.

A group of six riders prized itself clear from the front of the bunch in the final 10km, including Preidler and it was in from this group that the Austrian took seventh. His chase group got close to catching the leaders but fell just short, and broke up in the chase. Sitting in 39th overall after yesterday’s time trial, he will move up the GC well ahead of the final weekend of racing.

Chad Haga was one of many victims of the wet, slippery roads, falling heavily but getting back up to finish the stage. He will have checks with the team’s medical experts after the stage to see how he came out of the fall.

Coach Mattias Reck said after the stage: “It was a tough stage made even tougher at the end with the heavy rain. Despite just two riders the breakaway was strong today and stayed away. Behind them Georg tried to break it up with five or six others and they managed to get away. They didn’t manage to catch the two in front but they put up good fight.”