Wednesday 20 August 2014 13:40, UK
Guillaume van Keirsbulck claimed a long-range solo win on the final stage of the Eneco Tour as fellow Belgian Tim Wellens sealed overall victory and Britain’s Geraint Thomas ended the race sixth.
Van Keirsbulck formed part of the day’s 20-man breakaway but surged clear on his own with 34km to the finish in Sittard-Geleen remaining and could not be caught.
His Omega Pharma – Quick-Step team-mate Matteo Trentin won the sprint for second place, 46 seconds back, narrowly beating Yves Lampaert (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) into third.
Wellens (Lotto Belisol) survived a hilly stage containing 22 climbs to complete a seven-second overall victory over runner-up Lars Boom (Belkin), with Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) finishing six seconds further back in third.
It is the first stage-race victory of 23-year-old Wellens’s career and came courtesy of his solo victory on stage six on Saturday.
Thomas, who claimed three top tens in the seven-day race, finished 38 seconds down on Wellens overall.
Earlier on Sunday, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) snatched overall victory of the Vuelta a Burgos in Spain from previous leader Daniel Moreno (Katusha) on stage five’s 12.5km individual time trial.
The two riders went into the final day on the same time, but Quintana negotiated a largely flat course three seconds quicker than his Spanish rival to seal his third stage-race win of the season.
Janez Brajkovic (Astana) finished third overall, 55 second down, while Aleksejs Saramotins (IAM Cycling) won the final stage, one second quicker than Quintana.
Eneco Tour stage seven result
1 Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, 4:25:47
2 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, +46secs
3 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise, same time
4 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, st
5 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale, st
6 Laurens de Vreese (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, st
7 Pablo Lastras (Spa) Movistar, st
8 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Trek Factory Racing, st
9 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing, st
10 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Garmin-Sharp, st
Eneco Tour final general classification
1 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Belisol, 21:03:27
2 Lars Boom (Ned) Belkin, +7secs
3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Shimano, +13
4 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana, +33
5 Greg van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing, +34
6 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky, +38
7 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step, +45
8 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing, +48
9 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-GreenEdge, +56
10 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge, +1:04
