Four out of six early escapees could stay ahead in the final stage of the Ster ZLM Toer which started in Gerwen and finished in Boxtel. Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil) won the stage. The peloton was only a few metres behind. Because of a puncture for Theo Bos (Blanco) just before the final ten kilometres, there wasn’t any support anymore from Blanco, so the peloton was too late.

André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) won the group sprint. In the overall classification he’s second behind Lars Boom. Greipel started with a tenth place in the prologue on Wednesday. Then he twice finished as runner-up, beating Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). On the second day he finished behind the Dutchman Theo Bos, Friday Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) was faster. The preparation for the sprint was disturbed that day because of a crash, Jürgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol) being one of the riders involved.

Besides a second place in GC, all these results yielded Greipel the points jersey as well. In the top ten of the GC Lotto Belisol had three riders present. Marcel Sieberg became 7th, Jürgen Roelandts 9th. Sports director Bart Leysen was very satisfied with the team performance, but regrets the lack of a stage win.

“The team has worked well this race,” Leysen said. “André Greipel proved he’s good. The results he set here are good for his confidence. Unfortunately there was no victory. But his sprints were strong and he ended before Cavendish in those sprints. Indeed, Marcel Kittel beat him once, and he’ll meet him in the Tour as well, but yesterday he was dropped on the climb in the final.”

“Because of the crash on Friday Jürgen Roelandts couldn’t give everything in yesterday’s stage, but luckily the damage isn’t too bad. He’s 9th in the overall classification, Sieberg 7th and Greipel 2nd and that shows the whole team is good. On top of that we take points, which is very important. We’ll definitely be able to rely on our guys in the Tour, that’s for sure.”