excerpts from Eneco Tour.com
Between Riemst and Sittard-Geleen, there were only two Primus Checkpoint Sprints and those would not suffice to assume Vanbilsen’s jersey.
The overall ranking, however, hadn’t settled just yet. Tim Wellens started in the final stage wearing the Eneco white jersey, but the stage’s boni second could play a major role. The Lotto points ranking wasn’t decided either: the difference between red jersey Tom Dumoulin and Lars Boom was only one point.
From the start in Riemst several riders tried to break away from the pack, but they could not due to the strong winds. Until twenty riders managed to break away. With Julien Vermote, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck and Matteo Trentin, Omega Pharma-Quick-Step was represented the most. Like team BMC (Silvan Dillier) several riders had a teammate in the break, Cannondale (Kristjan Koren andMoreno Moser), Trek (Giacomo Nizzolo and Jesse Sergent) and Movistar (Pablo Lastras andEnrique Sanz). Tom Leezer, Dylan van Baarle, Evgeny Petrov, Michael Hepburn, Gatis Smukulis, Maximiliano Richeze, Gediminas Bagdonas, Yves Lampaert and Laurens De Vreese were the only representatives of their respective teams. De Vreese had been the most combative rider in the last two editions, but he would not win that jersey this year.
The lead of the front group grew rapidly. Lotto-Belisol was happy to see this happen. Boom and Dumoulin could no longer gain time on Wellens. Their teams worked hard though to keep a lid on the time difference. The breakaway never got more than 5:20.
With 35km left, Van Keirsbulck broke away from the leading group. However, when Belkinsubsequently started upping the pace in the peloton, it was not to the liking of Niki Terpstra. The winner of Paris-Roubaix went shoulder-to-shoulder with Maarten Wynants.
However, no one managed to bridge the gap with a strong Van Keirsbulck. The Omega Pharma-Quick-Step time trialist still retained a comfortable lead on the peloton. And claimed a solo win. Trentin completed the OPQS party by taking second place at 46 seconds, ahead of Lampaert.
The final overall victory of Wellens had never been in danger. He is the first Belgian rider to win the Eneco Tour. Lars Boom is second, Tom Dumoulin third. The black jersey is for Kenneth Vanbilsen, Dumoulin takes the points ranking.
Stage 7 Results BEL 1 VAN KEIRSBULCK, Guillaume (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) 4:25:47 ITA 2 TRENTIN, Matteo (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 46 BEL 3 LAMPAERT, Yves (TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN – BALOISE) BEL 4 VERMOTE, Julien (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) SLO 5 KOREN, Kristijan (CANNONDALE) BEL 6 DE VREESE, Laurens (WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT) ESP 7 LASTRAS GARCIA, Pablo (MOVISTAR) GER 8 HONDO, Danilo (TREK FACTORY RACING) SUI 9 DILLIER, Silvan (BMC RACING) NED 10 VAN BAARLE, Dylan (GARMIN SHARP) BEL 11 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) + 1:01 UKR 12 GRIVKO, Andriy (ASTANA) NED 13 DUMOULIN, Tom (GIANT-SHIMANO) ITA 14 POZZATO, Filippo (LAMPRE – MERIDA) NED 15 VAN POPPEL, Boy (TREK FACTORY RACING) ITA 16 MORI, Manuele (LAMPRE – MERIDA) SLO 17 BOZIC, Borut (ASTANA) GER 18 SÜTTERLIN, Jasha (MOVISTAR) RUS 19 KUZNETSOV, Viacheslav (KATUSHA) BEL 20 GILBERT, Philippe (BMC RACING) DEN 21 BRESCHEL, Matti (TINKOFF-SAXO) FRA 22 ROUX, Anthony (FDJ.fr) NED 23 BOOM, Lars (BELKIN) BEL 24 WELLENS, Tim (LOTTO BELISOL) BEL 25 VANENDERT, Jelle (LOTTO BELISOL) FRA 26 PICHOT, Alexandre (EUROPCAR) ITA 27 MARCATO, Marco (CANNONDALE) GBR 28 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) FRA 29 JEANNESSON, Arnold (FDJ.fr) NED 30 LANGEVELD, Sebastian (GARMIN SHARP) BEL 31 KEUKELEIRE, Jens (ORICA GreenEDGE) LUX 32 GASTAUER, Ben (AG2R LA MONDIALE) NED 33 CURVERS, Roy (GIANT-SHIMANO) ESP 34 SANZ, Enrique (MOVISTAR) ITA 35 PUCCIO, Salvatore (SKY) AUS 36 HAYMAN, Mathew (ORICA GreenEDGE) RUS 37 BRUTT, Pavel (KATUSHA) ITA 38 QUINZIATO, Manuel (BMC RACING) LTU 39 BAGDONAS, Gediminas (AG2R LA MONDIALE) BEL 40 ROELANDTS, Jurgen (LOTTO BELISOL)
General Classification after Stage 7 BEL 1 WELLENS, Tim (LOTTO BELISOL) 25:30:15 NED 2 BOOM, Lars (BELKIN) + 7 NED 3 DUMOULIN, Tom (GIANT-SHIMANO) + 13 UKR 4 GRIVKO, Andriy (ASTANA) + 33 BEL 5 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) + 34 GBR 6 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 38 BEL 7 GILBERT, Philippe (BMC RACING) + 48 BEL 8 KEUKELEIRE, Jens (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 56 NED 9 LANGEVELD, Sebastian (GARMIN SHARP) + 1:04 ITA 10 MARCATO, Marco (CANNONDALE) + 1:11 RUS 11 KUZNETSOV, Viacheslav (KATUSHA) + 1:15 BEL 12 VANENDERT, Jelle (LOTTO BELISOL) + 1:32 LUX 13 GASTAUER, Ben (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 1:34 FRA 14 JEANNESSON, Arnold (FDJ.fr) + 1:51 RUS 15 BRUTT, Pavel (KATUSHA) + 1:57 FRA 16 PICHOT, Alexandre (EUROPCAR) + 2:10 NZL 17 BAUER, Jack (GARMIN SHARP) + 2:23 ITA 18 MORI, Manuele (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 2:40 FRA 19 JEROME, Vincent (EUROPCAR) + 3:09 BEL 20 VERMOTE, Julien (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 5:59
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