Luka Mezgec again proved that he is a top sprinter in the making when he finished second in the crash-marred sprint on stage four of the Eneco Tour. Having been out of position in the finale, he had already used to much energy when the sprint started and so could only follow stage winner Nacer Bouhanni to the line.

Luka Mezgec has sprinted to second place in another chaotic sprint finish on stage four of the Eneco Tour. With the bunch finishing all together, there was little change in the overall classification for second placed Tom Dumoulin.

The sprint was not plain sailing for the team however as Reinardt Janse van Rensberg, easing back after leading out Mezgec, came down within sight of the finish line. He was able to get back on and finish the stage without any real difficulty fortunately.

After a straight forward day with just 9.6km of racing yesterday, the riders were in for a steady start to today’s stage as just one rider formed the day’s breakaway. The peloton were able to take it fairly easy for the first half of the stage as he built a lead of over six minutes, but once the chase started his lead was quickly whittled down.

The race finally came back together with 23km to go. This sparked attacks in the bunch but nothing was gaining much ground over a peloton intent on a bunch sprint. Team Giant-Shimano moved up in the final kilometres but once again it proved tough to stick together with the twisting route and narrowing roads.

Into the final kilometre they made their move, coming up the inside with van Rensberg leading Mezgec into the finish. He dropped Mezgec into position for the sprint but Mezgec ended up running out of room to come through and sprint. He was forced to follow stage winner Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) through to the front and from here it was too late to come past before the line.

Having pulled over after positioning Mezgec, van Rensberg eased back and started to move back through the bunch but a touch of wheels saw him come clattering down to the floor and other crashes around him saw several riders come down. Van Rensberg was quickly up on his feet and an update on any damage done will follow.

Mezgec gave his verdict on the finish, saying: “It was a really crazy last four kilometres. We managed to find each other again and with 1200m to go we were a bit too far back and Tom [Veelers] and Reinardt had to do a big effort to move up.

“I had already used a lot of energy before the sprint and all I could do was follow Bouhanni at the end. There’s room for improvement but looking at where we were with 1200m to go I think that second was my maximum today so I can be happy with that.

“We are all now looking forward to riding for and protecting Tom in the climbs – he’s looking really strong and is riding well.”

Coach Addy Engels added: “The day was pretty easy for most of it with just one guy in front, but then on the finishing circuits it was pretty hectic. The sprint with bonus seconds each time meant that there was a real fight.

“It was really hard for the guys to stay together and they did well to find each other after the chicaine. I think that Luka had to work pretty hard before the sprint itself and didn’t have much gas left in the sprint.

“Reinardt looks OK after his crash, he walking OK but we will see how he feels tomorrow.”