"This was no joke. The time differences for taking the stage or going for General Classification today will be decisive tomorrow. The work we will do on Saturday will come from deep and rely on strong energy conservation earlier this week."

Those were the words of Astana's Andrei Grivko after stage five at the Eneco Tour. Grivko finished with the elite leaders, 27 seconds behind stage winner Johan Le Bon from France.

The stage followed many of the same roads and climbs from the Ardennes Classic 'Amstel Gold Race' from April, but Friday's stage in August saw heavy bursts of summer rainstorms over the Limburg and Brabant regions of the Netherlands. Grivko finished with teammates Lars Boom and Alexey Lutsenko, but waited for Laurens De Vreese to thank the Belgian for exchanging a spare rear wheel to keep the Kazakhstani rider at the front after a late puncture.

Saturday's stage follows many of the steep climbs of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, raced in the opposite manner or sometimes entered another way.

Saturday will ultimately decide the General Classification and Grivko is at the front - 41 seconds behind Wilco Kelderman of the Netherlands.