If you don’t know the Eneco Tour, think of it as being the Tour de Benelux. It’s a spring classics style seven-stage race where the winner is invariably more humanoid looking than the Grand Tour skeletons. It’s all about sprint finishes and short, steep climbs rather than long, Alpine slogs.
This year’s winner was Zdenek Stybar, who got away in the closing kilometres of the final stage to record a 26 second win overall. Stybar is best-known for being a two-time cyclocross world champion. Cyclocross mostly looks like this.
Bradley Wiggins update
Brad rode the Eneco Tour as part of his preparation for the world championship time trial in October. He came fifth in the stage five race against the clock, but at 13.2km it was a bit short for him, so it wasn’t an entirely unexpected result. I think his preparation’s pretty much going as planned.
It seems like he’s settling for being a specialist time triallist now and he’s even been talking about going back on the track. The change in focus is clear from his weight. He’ll be about seven or eight kilograms heavier than his Tour-winning weight come the world championships.
What’s next?
The cycling lull ends on Saturday when the Vuelta a Espana kicks off. If you’re still not sold on the prospect, let me emphasise that there is ALWAYS action in the Vuelta.
Stage two features the first summit finish – they don’t dick about in Spain. Also, Domenico Pozzovivo is racing, so what more could you ask for?
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