Eneco tour

MJtje

Okeeeee verbrugge won........sucked that it started to rain just when the dutch (dekker and dekker) riders went.........soo nothing to add really!

Tomorrow petacchi????????!!!!!

Ullefan

It was so bad I had to turn the tv off. The only thing entertaining about it is that Frank Vandenbroucke is riding IMO. Maybe he'll win, if he's got his dog with him.

Virenque

Yes it was really boring hehe..

Organisers didn`t even give a profile for every stage..strange..

Discovery had a very good prologue! 4 in top15..they`re first in team classification of course.

MJtje

I just read that Petacchi won't compete in the mass sprints.......that would hurt his bid to becoming a world champion.........however he's just riding to get some competitive miles in his legs.....

MJtje

Soooo madmax won!!! Good on him......after the finishline he was talking to a motoguy (with camera duuh) and he was screaming he was glad he finally won something! He has now the leaders jersey.....

Saturday the race will start.......will boogerd attack?

MJtje

Whooo.........complete F@#% UP by the organisers of the Eneco tour. Dunno IF anyone saw it today but it was sad and hilarious:

The moto who was supposed to lead the peloton the good way send them instead the wrong way........and after that it was just complete disaster! The whole peloton stopped and after awhile they rode again, but it was obvious the organisers were trying to find the right road again!

The break of 3 riders got up to a massive 14 min (before the peloton was send the wrong way it was only 4/5 min) so the organisers thought lets do it honest: let the break and the peloton stop at the same spot and let the break go again and give them there orginal 4/5 min and after that let the peloton go again...

Funny the organisers tried to stop the break (mccartey?, van de velde, and some lotto guy), but it didn't work so the organisers forced them to stop by sending the police!!!!!!!! The police put his arm on a lotto guy and it was really like: 'were are you going dude'

I could understand the anger of the 3 in the front and the dc's, because it was not there fault that the peloton rode on the wrong road.........

I switched between NOS and Sporza and both commentators said they never saw this before in cycling.........

In the end a lampre guy won. T. dekker showed why he's a big talent working a lot for dekker in the end........and suprisingly boogerd couldn't deal with the pace in the ardennes (his terrain!).Verbrugge still the leader and says he's got 50% chance of winning it......

Saga to be continued........haha

Dead Star

lmao from what i read on another forum, it really did sound like a total joke/farce.

never trust Belgian organisers

MJtje

This is a better report (better english )



Ballan wins incident-packed Benelux fourth stage


PARIS, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Italy's Alessandro Ballan won the 232-km fourth stage of the Tour of Benelux in Verviers on Sunday after a bizarre day of racing resulted in the main pack losing their way.

The Italian Lampre rider, 25, surged in the last stretch to beat Belgian overall leader Rik Verbrugghe, who strengthened his red jersey with a six-second lead over Australian Allan Davis.

Belgian Leif Hoste crossed the finish line third ahead of Davis.

The stage threatened to end in chaos after the main pack, led by organisers' cars and motorcycles, took an incorrect turn 50 km from the finish.

Americans Jason McCartney and Christian Vandevelde and Belgian Bart Dockx were leading by seven minutes on the Wanne climb when the whole peloton turned into the wrong road and were forced to backtrack.

When they made it back to the right road, the lead of the three breakaways had risen to more than 15 minutes.

But the race jury decided to wipe out the lead the three pace setters had established while the main bunch were on the wrong route.

Despite being asked to stop, the leaders initially refused to follow orders until stewards threatened to kick them out of the race if they did not obey.

After long and animated discussions, the three finally accepted to start again with the same lead they had when the incident occurred and the stage continued. The trio subsequently lost their momentum and were caught 15 km from Verviers by American Bobby Julich, Italian Davide Rebellin, Russian Sergei Ivanov and Spaniard Jose-Ivan Guttierez. The four led for most of the finale before being swallowed in turn by the peloton, leaving Ballan to sprint for his first major pro victory.

nonameboy

that was ridiculous and they say they want to be the biggest race in three years time.

Roadrash Dunc

haha today they made the ToBritain look smooth.

MJtje

Madmax won again with ease!!!!!!!!! He got a good lead-out from disco.........

His further goals are the worlds which is a slight uphill finish which is his favorite sort of finish...........

Furthermore very boring tour.........!

Dead Star

now I think of it Madrid could work nicely for him. Lots of strong Dutchies from Quick Step and Rabo to support him, if they decide to make him their leader for that.

musette

That Max has had his way highlights the sad state of things for Zabel, also a participant in the ENECO tour. Zabel would have hoped, I would have thought, that he would win over Max.

BTW, Discovery has a perfect match for a sprinter in Max. Even though he is uneven and cannot beat other sprinters when they are at their best, he is also a sprinter who doesn't expect to participate in the TdF and who is not so well-regarded that he wouldn't be willing to work as quasi-domestique for flatter stages in Grand Tours other than the TdF. He doesn't need dedicated lead-out men, can rely on other DC domestiques, and he can do the Classics in support of Hincapie and others (while contesting the matter if it comes down to a bunch sprint).

MJtje

Max van heeswijk needs to be mentally right......because when he is he can beat every sprinter.......The problem is that hasn't been the case the last few months (split with wife but he's back again).........And there are other reasons: he's no leader, he doesn't like pressure etc........

From his generation (dekker, boogerd) he is considered the better talent, but if the head is not right then you won't win much.....

And youre really underestimating max........he beat zabel allready last year during tour of murcia like zabel was standing still......

As THE disco spokesperson of the whole forum you should know!