Philippe Gilbert put in a characteristic attack on the penultimate climb to solo to victory on stage three of the Eneco Tour.
Belgian sensation inherits race lead
Philippe Gilbert put in a characteristic attack on the penultimate climb to solo to victory on stage three of the Eneco Tour.
The Omega Pharma-Lotto rider lit up the roads of his home region to take a victory of eight seconds after attacking on La Flime, forcing out an advantage that was enough to move the Belgian into the leader’s jersey.
Resplendent in his national champion’s colours, Gilbert held off an elite chasing group at the finish in Andenne with Grega Bole (Lampre) and Ben Hermans (RadioShack) rounding out the podium places on a day that resembled a mini Ardennes classic.
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) crossed the line in ninth while Taylor Phinney (BMC) led a third group home 37 seconds back to collectively hand Gilbert a five-second overall race lead.
The stage saw Gilbert on the march in a bid to put time into his rivals ahead of Friday’s 14-kilometre time trial, a discipline that should see the likes of Boasson Hagen and third-placed David Millar (Garmin-Cervelo) come to the fore.
Classics country
A four-man breakaway headed clear as the race left the start circuit around the town of Heers and quickly put time into the bunch before heading towards the famous Mur de Huy climb.
The quartet of Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano), Stefan Van Dijk (Veranda’s Willems), Julien Fouchard (Cofidis) and, significantly, fourth placed Alex Rasmussen (HTC-Highroad) built up a gap of around seven minutes before the chase efforts intensified.
Omega Pharma-Lotto were in attendance at the head of the bunch and revealed Gilbert’s interest from the outset as the squad helped BMC and Team Sky with the workload.
The gap to the break stood at a shade over four minutes the first time through the finish yet as the tempo was gradually wound up in the bunch, the final remnants of the escape were swept up with 17km to go ahead of three tough final climbs.
Leopard Trek arrived on the front with Omega Pharma-Lotto then taking it upon themselves to split up the field as the climbs came thick and fast.
Boasson Hagen emerged from the bunch and delivered a turn of speed at the top of the Cote de Saint-Roch to take the intermediate sprint, claiming three bonus seconds to move temporarily level with leader Phinney out on the road.
Tour de France stage winner Jelle Vanendert strung out the pack on La Flime on behalf of team-mate Gilbert and moments later the Belgian champion kicked himself on the final ramps of the climb with 7km remaining.
An elite chase group formed in a bid to close the gap with Millar to the fore as well as Michael Barry (Team Sky) who buried himself on behalf of Boasson Hagen but as the stage entered its final kilometre it was clear there was no catching Gilbert.
