Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Sylvain Chavanel, in his French TT Champion skinsuit, won the 13.2km Eneco Tour Stage 5 ITT on Friday by 4 seconds. Chavanel also moved himself up to 2nd in the GC, just four seconds behind current leader Lars Boom (Belkin ProCycling).
Chavanel finished with a time of 16'04", besting both Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano) and Jesse Sergent (Radioshack-Leopard) by four seconds.
This is the 49th win (47th road) for OPQS in three disciplines in 2013. It is also the second stage of Eneco Tour OPQS has won, as Zdenek Stybar was victorious in Stage 3. Stybar is currently 8th in the GC after finishing 38" down on Chavanel in the ITT.
"My objective was to try to win," Chavanel said. "There were a lot of good time trialists here, but honestly I was stressed waiting for Lars Boom at the finish line, but fortunately everything went well. This is my third TT win after Driedaagse van de Panne and the National Championship so I'm really happy, even more because the level of the competitors was really high. For me the parcour was perfect — really technical with a lot of corners. After the recon this morning I understood that I could have won, so I stayed focused on the race and I made it."
"Now I'm second in the GC," Chavanel continued. "I said since the beginning that in the first stages it would have been important to not lose any seconds. I managed to stay always in the front, I did a good time trial, and now I'm looking forward to the next two stages. I'm in good condition and I really would like to do well in this race where I was already second twice; 2012 and 2009. But we also have Stybar in good GC position, after his victory in Stage 3 and a good performance in the ITT today. We also have Niki Terpstra, who knows this race really well. We have a good collective and because of that we can also play tactically."
