Eneco Tour – Stage 3 – Jonas Van Genechten – Haussler placed me in an ideal position under the red flag, but I did not manage to have the luck necessary to win this –

A third stage reserved for the sprinters resulted in a third winner at the end of a finishing straight where the suspense lasted until the final meter.  At this game of poker among the peloton’s fast men, it was the 34 year old expert, Tom Boonen (Quickstep-Etixx) who took the win ahead of his younger competitors such as Arnaud Démare (FDJ) and Elia Viviani (Sky).  In the red leader’s jersey on account of his breakaway from the day before, Jesper Asselman (Team Oranje Rompoot) managed to defend his lead in the classification on the eve of the time trial that will surely turn the overall hierarchy upside down. For its part, IAM Cycling fought to bring its sprinter Jonas Van Genechten into a position to play for the win in the final.  Unfortunately, the Swiss team helpers were not able to reap any reward for their efforts in the last two laps of the circuit raced over narrow country roads.

While thanking his teammates one by one for their excellent work, Jonas Van Genechten, disappointed with his 13th place, refused to make excuses.  “Nervousness ruled the peloton in the final two rounds.  We were really with the knife between the teeth in the race during that final half hour.  But the team did a very good job.  We were a long way back before the final corner, but Heinrich Haussler placed me in an ideal position under the red flag.  I just did not manage to have the luck I needed to bring home a win.  In fact, I took Boonen’s wheel believing that he would launch his sprint, but his teammates delayed a little, and then we had a wave of riders passing on the right side.  I was blocked in, and I had no chance to get free again in time to play for the win. In this type of exercise, experience counts too and I have not lost hope that I will have greater success in finishes of a similar type.”

Rik Verbrugghe, IAM Cycling directeur sportif along with Thierry Marichal, was not the least disappointed when commenting with his usual lucidity about this very hot day of racing.  “Experience is not always enough to slip through the peloton.  Jonas was pretty well placed, but then he got blocked.  After that, it was impossible for him to do his sprint.  It’s essential to be aware that the last kilometer is the most important and it decides everything.  It is not always obvious how to position yourself in a race like the Eneco Tour where the roads can sometimes be very narrow, even when the guys still do a great job.”