Australia’s Mark Renshaw (Blanco) started the race in style, winning the first stage after surprising the other sprinters with a solo attack in the final 2km of the stage. On stage 2 Arnaud Demare (FDJ.com) won an uphill sprint into Brussels and slipped into the leader’s jersey for his troubles.
Overall winner Stybar (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) had his first taste of glory on stage 3 when he took the win from a small group that surprised the peloton with an attack inside the final kilometres, much like Renshaw had done two days earlier.
Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) got his name on the winners’ list after taking out the stage 4 bunch sprint into Vlijmen. Defending champion Lars Boom (Belkin) finished third on the stage and found himself in the overall lead as a result.
On stage 5 the riders took on a 13km ITT and while Bradley Wiggins (Sky) was seen as the likely winner (after he won the Tour of Poland ITT a week earlier) it was Sylvain Chavanel that came up trumps. Lars Boom’s 10th place was enough to keep the Dutchman in the overall lead for another stage.
Stage 6 featured 11 climbs of note and it was Spaniard David Lopez (Sky) who won from a breakaway while Stybar was just two seconds behind in second place. With Boom losing 2:19 to the leaders, Tom Domoulin (Argos-Shimano) took over the lead in the general classification, just nine seconds ahead of Stybar.
And on the seventh and final stage Stybar attacked from the peloton on the Denderoordberg climb with about 6km to go, bridging to Ian Stannard (Sky) who’d been part of an earlier break. The two worked together before Stybar attacked on the final climb of the day, the Muur, taking his second stage win of the race and clinching the Eneco Tour overall.
Of course Stybar is no stranger to success on the world stage. He won the world cyclocross championships in 2010 and 2011, a stage at the Tour of Poland last year and was part of a team time trial victory with OPQS at Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this season.
But perhaps Stybar’s most memorable moment of 2013 came in Paris-Roubaix when he was in a winning position before he clipped a spectator and lost contact with Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack Leopard), who would go on to win, and Sep Vanmarcke (then Blanco), who finished second.
We hope you enjoy Kristof Ramon’s photos of the race as much as we enjoyed picking them.
Follow the link for the final results from the 2013 Eneco Tour.
- The first stage of the 2013 Eneco Tour begins.
- Mark Renshaw snuck away from the peloton on the opening stage to take an impressive solo win.
- The Belkin riders lead the bunch over a bridge defending Mark Renshaw’s GC lead on stage 2.
- Alex Dowsett goes down, dislocating both thumbs.
- Alex Dowsett biting through the pain 25km after crashing hard (and dislocating both thumbs). He’s pictured here while on the cobbled 17% section of the Mont Saint Laurent.
- The peloton attacks the cobbled Mont Saint Laurent climb.
- Gert Steegmans ‘drops’ into Ronse to give himself a bit of a headstart up an impending climb.
- Nikki Terpstra tries to bridge across to the breakaway on the Bruineput climb on stage 2.
- Arnaud Demare takes out the uphill sprint finish on stage 2.
- Jonas Van Genechten and Tim Wellens escort Andre Greipel back into the peloton on stage 3.
- Zdenek Stybar is all smiles after winning stage 3. It wouldn’t be the last time in the tour he’d have reason to celebrate.
- Gregory Rast in the RadioShack-Leopard team bus after stage 3.
- Sylvain Chavanel powers to victory in the stage 5 ITT.
- Stybar finished 23rd in the ITT, 38 seconds behind Chavanel. It was good enough to put him in striking distance of the overall win in the final stages.
- Guillaume Van Keirsbulck in the ITT.
- Lieuwe Westra finished 8th in the ITT, 17 seconds behind Chavanel.
- Bradley Wiggins was touted as the favourite for the ITT and ended up finishing 5th.
- Bernie Eisel gets aero.
- Philippe Gilbert crashed heavily on stage 6 and would later abandon the race as a result.
- David Garcia Lopez celebrates as he approaches the finish line on stage 6 which finished on the Cote de la Redoute.
- Wiggins digs dee on La Redoute, which maxes out at 22% gradient.
- Philippe Gilbert biting his way up La Redoute (max 22%)
- Tom Dumoulin crosses the finish line on stage 6 as the new overall leader. He had to dig deep to get there.
- The peloton rides through the Brabant province on its way to Geraardsbergen on the final stage.
- 2012 winner Lars Boom follows future 2013 winner Zdenek Stybar and then-race leader Tom Dumoulin up the Muur.
- Stybar climbs the Muur.
- Andre Greipel gets stopped on his way to the team bus after the final stage, amid uncertainty about whether he’d won the points jersey or not. In the end it was reigning champion Lars Boom who won the points classification, 1 point ahead of Griepel.
And this is how it all ended for Kristof: