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The Belgian classics period was swiftly followed by the first European stage race last week. The five day, six stage Energiewacht Tour took place in the north of the Netherlands from April 6th to April 10th.
With only Cervélo-Bigla and Cylance Pro Cycling absent from the top 10 of the UCI teams ranking, the start field was of high quality and the race promised to become an interesting battle between mostly Dutch riders going after the GC.
Top favourites lining up at the start included 2013 winner Ellen van Dijk and Chantal Blaak (both Boels-Dolmans), Amy Pieters (Wiggle-High5), winner of the 2014 edition Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv), Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-AIS) and Kirsten Wild (Team Hitec).
And Lisa Brennauer (Canyon-SRAM) went into the Energiewacht Tour to try and repeat her victory of 2015 as well.
Once again it was the Boels-Dolmans squad that dominated the races. Throughout the five days, there have been only two GC leaders, both of them were Boels-Dolmans riders. No matter whether it’s a classic, a climbers’ course or a Dutch, flat stage race, Boels-Dolmans keeps on winning. Along the way, the team did experience a first when they won the opening team time trial on Wednesday night ahead of the Canyon-SRAM (formerly Velocio-SRAM) team. Leading the team into time trial victory, was Van Dijk. One of the best time trialists in the world, Van Dijk was victorious in two stages and took home the overall race win.
Take a look at the photo gallery and video highlights below to see how Van Dijk and Boels-Dolmans won the five-day event.
The final GC
Energiewacht Tour (2.2) Borkum → Borkum
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2
3
VAN DIJK Ellen
BRENNAUER Lisa
MACKAIJ Floortje
Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team
Stage 1: 11.3 kilometer team time trial
The race started with a slippery and wet team time trial of 11.3 kilometers in the city of Groningen.
Van Dijk successfully led her Boels-Dolmans team to victory; and while this might not come as a surprise, this was in fact their first ever win in a team time trial.
Knowing that the team is aiming for the world TTT title, the victory is an important step in reaching that goal.
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- Team USA warm up for the opening team trial of the Energiewacht Tour. The team finished 15th with an average speed of 43.093 km/hr.
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- Boels-Dolmans speed down the start ramp and toward victory at the Energiewacht Tour team time trial, with an average speed of almost 48 km/hr.
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- Lisa Brennauer leads Canyon-SRAM through the final corners on the wet paving stones of Groningen to finish 2nd behind Boels-Dolmans.
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- Boels Dolmans’ victory at the Energiewacht Tour is a historical one, as it’s their first ever TTT win. Ellen van Dijk crossed the line first to become the first leader.
Felix Matthis was at the scene in Groningen and made this highlights video of the stage:
Results
Energiewacht Tour (2.2) Groningen → Groningen
VAN DIJK Ellen
DIDERIKSEN Amalie
Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team
Stage 2: 116.8 kilometer road race
With Ellen van Dijk in the yellow leader’s jersey, stage 2 took off from Winsum to cover five laps of 23.6 kilometers for a total of 117 kilometers.
Coming in third after having been part of an eight-person breakaway, Van Dijk would hand off the yellow jersey to race winner and teammate Chantal Blaak, who’s having an incredible season thus far.
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- Stage 2 was a 117 km road race starting and finishing in Winsum.
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- The peloton was kept together for quite a while, with Rabo-Liv trying to make the race hard to get a stage win plus that yellow leader’s jersey.
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- Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans) wins the second stage from a group of 8 and takes over the leader’s jersey.
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- Barbara Guarischi (Canyon-SRAM) catches her breath after taking 11th in the second stage of the Energiewacht Tour.
With a junior women’s race running alongside the elite Energiewacht Tour, Felix Mattis took a closer look at the narrow and slippery course where the women would sprint for the stage 2 victory:
Results
Energiewacht Tour (2.2) Winsum → Winsum
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2
3
VAN DEN BROEK-BLAAK Chantal
VAN DEN BROEK-BLAAK Chantal
MACKAIJ Floortje
Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team
Stage 3: 131.8 kilometer road race
The longest of the stages was the third one, leaving from Musselkanaal and finishing in Stadskanaal, after one loop of 27.9 kilometers, two of 32.8 kilometers and three local laps of 12.4 kilometers for a total of 130 kilometres.
This stage was the first race in a while not won by the dominant Boels-Dolmans team. In fact, it would be the only stage in the 2016 Energiewacht Tour not won by a Dutch rider as it was Team USA’s Allie Dragoo who crossed the line first after attacking her breakaway companions for a solo won.
Blaak however managed to stay in the yellow leader’s jersey.
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- The longest stage in the 2016 Energiewacht Tour is stage 3 which runs from Musselkanaal to Stadskanaal, covering over 130 kilometers.
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- The only victory for a non-Dutchie at the 2016 Energiewacht Tour goes to Allie Dragoo (Team USA), who was able to get solo out of a break of six riders.
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- The jerseys wearers after stage 3 presented to the crowds in Stadskanaal: Blaak in yellow, Vera Koedooder (Parkhotel Valkenburg) in the orange sprint jersey, Floortje Mackaij (Liv-Plantur) as best young rider, Sara Penton (Lares-Waowdeals) in the combativity jersey and Dragoo wearing the stage winner’s jersey. Lisa Brennauer (Canyon-SRAM) takes back the green points jersey.
The highlights video by Felix Mattis show how Dutch UCI team Parkhotel Valkenburg had been active throughout the stage, earning Vera Koedooder the orange sprint jersey.
Results
Energiewacht Tour (2.2) Musselkanaal → Stadskanaal
1
2
3
VAN DEN BROEK-BLAAK Chantal
BRENNAUER Lisa
MACKAIJ Floortje
Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team
Stage 4a: 75.4 kilometer road race
Two stages were planned for day 4 of the race, with a short road race in the morning, starting and finishing in Zuidhorn. With Canyon-SRAM’s Brennauer and Elena Cecchini in third and fourth in the GC, only 11 and 18 seconds behind race leader Blaak respectively, it was obvious that the team would try to diminish the gap ahead of the individual time trial that was planned for the afternoon.
Canyon-SRAM lined up at the front of the peloton, but were unable to prevent a mass sprint from happening in Zuidhorn, nor could they take home this mass sprint victory. It was instead sprinter Kristen Wild (Team Hitec) who beat everyone to the line, followed closely by Blaak, still in the yellow jersey.
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- Alexis Ryan and Barbara Guarischi (Canyon-SRAM) having a laugh on the start line of stage 4a, a 75 kilometer road race.
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- Boels-Dolmans never lost control throughout the five day stage race.
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- Lucinda Brand (Rabo-Liv) goes on a late attack in stage 4a, which earned her the combativity jersey, but not the stage win.
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- Kirsten Wild (Team Hitec) wins the sprint in Zuidhorn to take stage 4a, with a very frustrated Barbara Guarischi (Canyon-SRAM) in third.
“It was a tricky finish and a bit of a chaos, but in the end I luckily found Julie [Leth] and Emilie [Moberg] back and we worked well together to get into the last corner,” stage winner Kirsten Wild explained her win after the race.
Results
Energiewacht Tour (2.2) Zuidhorn → Zuidhorn
1
2
3
VAN DEN BROEK-BLAAK Chantal
VAN DEN BROEK-BLAAK Chantal
MACKAIJ Floortje
Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team
Stage 4b: 13.1 kilometer individual time trial
Ahead of the individual time trial that was stage 4b, former world TT champions Ellen van Dijk and Lisa Brennauer were sitting closely together in the GC at 12 and 16 seconds behind Blaak respectively. As Blaak is a good performer in time trials herself, this stage would probably be decisive for the GC.
A fourth rider having a shot at the yellow leader’s jersey in this individual time trial was 2014 Dutch TT champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-AIS), 27 seconds back in the GC.
This is where Van Dijk made her move, winning the time trial by 22 seconds over Van Vleuten, and earning back the yellow leader’s jersey.
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- Ellen van Dijk (Boels-Dolmans) warming up for stage 4b, a 13.6 kilometer individual time trial. She would win by 22 seconds and take back the leader’s jersey from her teammate Blaak.
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- First time trial for World TT Champion Linda Villumsen (United Healthcare) in the rainbow jersey. The first UCI ITT of the year: where does everyone stand? Villumsen would get 9th.
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- Former Australian TT champion Shara Gillow (Rabo-Liv).
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- Lisa Brennauer (Canyon-SRAM) finished third in the ITT, 22 seconds behind nr. 2 Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-AIS) and 48 behind Van Dijk.
Although Van Dijk was back in yellow after this stage, she was far from certain of the final victory with only one more stage to go: “Last year I missed the first echelon on the last stage, so anything can happen. We need to stay really focused.”
Results
Energiewacht Tour (2.2) Leek → Leek
1
2
3
VAN DIJK Ellen
VAN DIJK Ellen
VAN DIJK Ellen
MACKAIJ Floortje
Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team
Stage 5: 117.9 kilometer road race
The final stage in the Energiewacht Tour was situated on the German island Borkum, just north of the province of Groningen. All teams boarded the ferry for a eight loop race on the island, covering almost 120 kilometers in total.
As Van Dijk pointed out, the wind would play a major role here, but not enough to break up the race. Another mass sprint offered Wild a second opportunity to get a stage win and secured the overall win for Van Dijk.
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- Final chance for a stage win. Lisa Brennauer and Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-AIS) lead the mid-race break of stage 5: eight loops on the German island of Borkum.
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- Another stage win for Kirsten Wild (Team Hitec) ahead of Lisa Brennauer and Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans).
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- Squeezing the celebrated athletes onto the podium. GC top 3: Ellen van Dijk, Annemiek van Vleuten and Lisa Brennauer. Points jersey for Lisa Brennauer, sprint jersey for Romy Kasper (Boels-Dolmans) and Floortje Mackaij best young rider. Wild wears the stage win jersey and Julia Soek (Liv-Plantur) is awarded the final combativity jersey.
Results
Energiewacht Tour (2.2) Borkum → Borkum
1
2
3
VAN DIJK Ellen
BRENNAUER Lisa
MACKAIJ Floortje
Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team
If you’d like to see and hear more about the Energiewacht Tour, be sure to check out…
- … Sarah Connelly’s audio interviews on Soundcloud.com.
- … all of Felix Mattis’ video’s on YouTube.
- … the official Energiewacht Tour website.
- … the Energiewacht Tour’s social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook.
