The WorldTour makes one last stop in Spring Classics territory for the weeklong Eneco Tour, a relatively young race that has nevertheless offered a healthy amount of high-caliber entertainment the past few years. While the race doesn’t visit any Alpine climbs, the cobbles and the short but steep uphill tests of Belgium and the Netherlands, familiar to anyone who enjoys bike racing in the spring, will provide plenty of challenges to sort out the General Classification. Bonus seconds tend to play a pretty important role as well, giving the fast finishers a leg up on those less inclined to get involved in the hunt for high stage placings.
The Route
The Eneco Tour opens with three straight relatively flat days that look good for the sprinters, though don’t be surprised if at least one of them ends up going to an aggressive attacker. Nothing is guaranteed a part of the world as prone to crosswinds and sketchy conditions.
Stage 4 is a 13.9km individual time trial. It doesn’t sound like much, but in a weeklong race without any mountains, it’s a critical stage for the GC hopefuls. Despite a somewhat visually deceiving official profile graphic, it’s quite flat (and not particularly technical) and will favor the powerhouse specialists.
Stage 5 will take the peloton into Amstel Gold Race territory, pitting the riders up against some of the climbs of that one-day classic (although the stage avoids the Cauberg). The final few kilometers involve multiple short but steep climbs, and then a downhill run into the finishing straight.
Stage 6 should play out like a mini-Liège-Bastogne-Liège, taking on some of the same challenges and offering a similar profile: numerous climbs that are just a bit tougher than those of the previous stage.
The Eneco Tour concludes with a visit to the heartland of the Cobbled Classics in Belgium, where the peloton will take on multiple ascents of the legendary Muur van Geraardsbergen.
The challenging cobbled climbs will give the strongmen one last shot at a WorldTour victory in Flanders this season.
The General Classification Contenders
Given the Classics-esque feel of the Eneco Tour, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that many of the big names of the spring are making the start at this race. The more versatile among them will have a shot at the overall victory here.
Tim Wellens was the surprise victor last year (he launched an attack on that year’s Liège-Bastogne-Liege-esque stage 6 that catapulted him into the lead) and he returns this year with a strong Lotto-Soudal team. The route certainly suits Wellens, a true all-round talent who can handle this terrain well, though form has been a question mark for Wellens this season. The 24-year-old has not quite had the 2015 he was probably hoping for. Still, he’s a proven threat in this race who can’t be counted out. His team is stacked with other versatile talents as well: Tiesj Benoot, Jens Debuscherre, Jürgen Roelandts, and Thomas De Gendt are all capable supporters or alternatives if Wellens isn’t up for it.
Greg Van Avermaet and Philippe Gilbert head a powerful BMC squad. It would be a big surprise if at least one of them was not involved in the fight for the overall victory. I see Van Avermaet as the slightly more likely of the pair to lead the team, though both are very well-suited to the race and in sharp form. Van Avermaet’s recent climbing performances and a relatively newfound ability to time trial will come in especially handy in this race. He won the Muur van Geraardsbergen stage in 2014 and is sure to contend there again, and his cobblestone skills and finishing speed coupled with the best form of his life on the climbs and against the clock give him an edge in this race. He was 5th overall last year. Motivation is likely through the roof after a frustrating Clásica San Sebastián. Gilbert is a dangerous contender in his own right, however, 7th last year and the winner of multiple Eneco Tour stages in the past, and coming off a San Sebastián runner-up performance. Jempy Drucker and Daniel Oss round out a very strong BMC roster.
Lars Boom won the Eneco Tour back in 2012 and he was 2nd in 2014. He is very strong against the clock and on the cobbles, and always seems to climb better than you might expect on the Eneco Tour’s uphill tests. He should be right up there fighting for the overall victory. Andriy Grivko is another excellent option on an Astana team that is surprisingly well-suited to this race. Grivko was 3rd in 2013 and 4th last year, and he has the climbing legs and time trialing skills to make up for a relative lack of cobblestone prowess.
Etixx-QuickStep will be without 2013 overall winner Zdenek Stybar but that doesn’t mean they aren’t loaded with options. Julian Alaphillipe, one of the big stars of this year’s Ardennes Classics, is the most obvious choice. He is untested on the cobblestones but he should be among the best riders in the race on Stages 6 and 7, and can put in a nice ITT on a short course as well. Niki Terpstra is another excellent option—he tends to perform surprisingly well on the climbs of the Eneco Tour, and the rest of the terrain suits him perfectly. Tom Boonen is of course another rider to watch out for on EQS.
Simon Spilak may seem out of place among the many Classics stars on the startlist, but as a balanced rider with both strong climbing legs and a strong time trial, he can’t be overlooked in this race. Viacheslav Kuznetsov is a dark horse on the Katusha squad to watch out for—he’s comfortable on this terrain and was 11th overall in 2014.
It hasn’t been the best season for Wilco Kelderman, but like Simon Spilak he is an excellent all-round talent and a danger in pretty much any stage race. He also has a nice finishing kick to hunt down bonus seconds. Trek is without Fabian Cancellara but Fabio Felline could surprise some people with his climbing legs and time trialing skills. Lampre-Merida’s Diego Ulissi certainly has the climbing chops to handle the climbs and the finishing speed to nab bonus seconds. If he can survive the conditions and the cobblestones, he’s also pretty good against the clock in a short ITT.
Jan Bakelants, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Jens Keukeleire, Gorka Izagirre, Michael Rogers, Simon Geschke, Tom-Jelte Slagter, and Sebastian Langeveld are others on the list of outsiders hoping to contend for the Eneco Tour GC title.
The Stagehunters
André Greipel is the biggest name in a long list of fast finishers making the start, a list that also includes Giacomo Nizzolo, Arnaud Démare, Sacha Modolo, Elia Viviani, JJ Lobato, Moreno Hofland, Heinrich Haussler, Ramunas Navardauskas, Nikias Arndt, and Andrea Guardini. Greipel is in a class of his own out of that bunch, but coming off the Tour, motivation and form aren’t guaranteed. The sprinters should have three chances to hunt for stage victories at the beginning of the race.
Also watch out for Classics specialists like Filippo Pozzato, Ian Stannard, and Stijn Vandenbergh who might not be contenders for the General Classification, but who will nevertheless be dangerous on their preferred terrain in the hunt for stage victories. Practically the entire Topsport team fits this description as well.
VeloHuman Top 10 Overall Favorites
GC Winner: Greg Van Avermaet
Podium: Lars Boom, Tim Wellens
Other Top Contenders: Philippe Gilbert, Julian Alaphilippe, Andriy Grivko, Niki Terpstra, Diego Ulissi, Simon Spilak, Wilco Kelderman
Be sure to follow @VeloHuman on Twitter for more analysis and commentary during the race!
-Dane Cash
Photo by Kat Rietberg (CC).
