Eneco Tour: Le Bon swims to victory in stormy Sittard

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Johan Le Bon (FDJ) claimed a dramatic victory on a rain-soaked stage 5 of the Eneco Tour in Sittard as he and fellow escapee Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Garmin) held off the chasers at the end of a rugged day of racing in Limburg.

Le Bon and Van Baarle broke clear after 60 kilometres Friday’s stage, which brought the peloton over some 23 categorised climbs in what amounted to a miniature Amstel Gold Race, and they established a maximum advantage of five minutes.

The LottoNL-Jumbo team of overnight race leader Jos van Emden was controlling the peloton and, aided by Etixx-QuickStep, they were 3:30 down on the escapees when they reached the trio of bonus sprints with 35 kilometres remaining.

At that point, it appeared as though the race would come back together on the two laps of the finishing circuit, which included the climbs of Windraak, Kollenberg, Sittarderweg and Weg langs Stammen, and BMC spelt out their intentions by sending Philippe Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet up the road to pick off the remaining one-second bonuses in the so-called “Golden Kilometre.”

Van Baarle and Le Bon’s actions at the same point had been instructive, however. Rather than squabble over the bonus seconds, the pair simply continued their smooth collaboration through the Golden Kilometre.

Leaden drops of rain began to fall as they hit the finishing circuit, quickly turning to a heavy thunderstorm, but Le Bon and Van Baarle proceeded undeterred, while a cohesive chase effort failed to materialise behind.

As biting sheets of rain fell over Sittard, Van Baarle and Le Bon took the bell with a lead of 2:11 in hand over a bunch that had been reduced to 40 riders after a bout of forcing on the climb of Windraak. Despite the reduced numbers, however, there was real indecision over whose responsibility it was to chase. BMC’s Loic Vliegen and Manuel Quinziato each put in lengthy solo efforts, but support from other squads – particularly Van Emden’s LottoNL-Jumbo – was glaring by its absence.

Lars Boom (Astana) and Lars Petter Nordhaug (Sky) each made abortive attempts to form new chase groups on the climbs of Watersley and Sittarderweg, but quickly desisted due to the lack of collaboration, while Van Baarle and Le Bon stuck admirably to their task out in front.

With 15 kilometres remaining, their lead was reduced to a little over a minute. As the rain rattled off the road with renewed venom, André Greipel decided to take matters in hand for Lotto Soudal, powering to front on the Weg langs Stammen with a little under ten kilometres remaining.

The German sprinter was joined by his Lotto Soudal teammate Tim Wellens, Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica-GreenEdge) over the top of the climb, but the quintet never struck up a reliable working alliance. It was left to Greipel and Wellens to perform all of the work until the final three kilometres, apart from a brief cameo from Kelderman on the final ascent of the Windraak that reduced the gap to just 30 seconds.

Out in front, meanwhile, Le Bon and Van Baarle remained absolutely united, choosing to join forces rather than attack one another on the final climb. Their alliance finally fractured with a shade under two kilometres remaining, when Le Bon jumped away, diving for the wheel of the television motorbike in front of them, almost coming a cropper in the process.

Le Bon opened a small gap over Van Baarle and though the Dutchman clawed his way back almost to within touching distance beneath the red kite, he was never quite able to get back on terms. Both men, by now exhausted, lifted themselves from the saddle at more or less the same time for the final sprint, with Le Bon holding on to claim a fine victory.

Magnus Cort Nielsen won the sprint for third, 9 seconds back, ahead of Wellens and Kelderman, while Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC) led the main peloton home at 27 seconds.

Kelderman did just enough to inherit the overall lead from his teammate Van Emden. The Dutchman leads Van Baarle by one second in the general classification ahead of the weekend’s grand finale, while Le Bon lies in third place, 8 seconds back.

Van Emden slips to 4th, 13 seconds down, while Boom, Gilbert and Van Avermaet all remain as dangermen in the top ten overall. On Friday, however, the day belonged to Van Baarle and, particularly, to Le Bon, whose bravery was rewarded with stage victory.

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