Stage 7

HTC-Columbia’s Tony Martin used his time trial strength to the confirm overall victory in the Eneco Tour on Tuesday as he surged an emphatic win in the race’s last individual time trial in Genk, Belgium.

Already the fastest at the time trial’s intermediate checkpoint, Martin finally came close to averaging 50 kilometres an hour on the short but very technical course, which he completed with a time of 20 minutes and 24 seconds.

The HTC-Columbia rider finished six seconds ahead of Dutchman Maarten Tjallingii on the stage and increased his overall advantage on second-placed Koos Moerenout of Holland to 31 seconds.

“Winning the last time trial is a truly perfect way of ending the race, and it will keep me really motivated for the final part of the year,” Martin said. “It’s a great feeling to have taken such an important win, and I’m now on track for my next few targets.”

“I’ll ease back a little bit now, and then start my final build-up for the World Championships Time Trial in Australia with a ride in the Tour of Britain. I can’t say what will happen in the World Championships, and it’ll be hard to beat [defending champion] Fabian Cancellara, but I’ve been working hard on my time trialling and we’ll see how it goes.”

“What impressed me the most about Tony was how he turned around after the Tour de France and came back to do so well here,” added HTC-Columbia sports director Brian Holm. “We talked about his ambitions and didn’t know whether he would be so good, but once he got in the break where he took the lead, we knew he had a chance. However, for sure we didn’t take anything for granted.”

“One stage went over part of the Amstel Gold race course, another used part of Fleche Wallone and then today we knew Moerenhout is a strong time triallist so we went all out  right to the very end.”

The Eneco Tour is Martin’s first overall win in a ProTour course and his fifth of the 2010 season.

Stage 6

HTC-Columbia's Andre Greipel took his second stage victory at this year's Eneco Tour as teammate Tony Martin moved one step closer to overall victory in the UCI ProTour stage race.

Like the rest of his teammates, Greipel worked hard all day to help Martin defend his race lead on the hilly stage in the Ardennes but still had the speed to win the sprint in Heers.

He was well placed in the final kilometre despite some late attacks and then burst past Edvald Boasson Hagen to win by more than a bike length. Belgium's Jurgen Roelandts also went past Boasson Hagen to finish second.

It was the the 52nd victory for the HTC-Columbia team in 2010.

"This is a very special victory for me," Greipel said proudly. "It was a hard stage and not really suited to the sprinters. I was seriously struggling to stay in the peloton after working to help Toy Martin hold the lead. With 10km to go to the finish, I went back to the team car and they told me to save myself for the sprint. I was really hurting but fortunately I had a little bit left and it was enough to win."

Tony Martin picked up some precious bonus seconds during the stage to extend his overall lead to 11 seconds on Koos Moerenhout before Tuesday's final 16.9km time trial stage around Genk.

Stage 2

HTC-Columbia's Andre Greipel took the team's 87th victory of the 2010 season at the Eneco Tour Thursday with yet another perfectly executed sprint finish in the centre of Ardooie in Belgium. The HTC-Columbia riders used their speed and lead out skills to perfectly position Greipel in the final kilometre, resulting in an explosive sprint and a stage two win.  
 
"It was difficult to hold a good position in the bunch and so we decided to wait and hit the front in the final kilometres of the stage when there was a headwind," Greipel explained.   "Mark Renshaw dropped me off on Boasson Hagen's wheel just before the tight corner, with 1.5km to go. It was perfect, and I did the rest.  I trusted my teammates and they trusted me. It's great to get the first win of the race and now anything else is a nice bonus."
 
Friday's third stage at the Eneco Tour is around the town of Ronse in the heart of the cycling-mad Flanders region of Belgium.