Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Sylvain Chavanel sits in 3rd place overall, 16" back going into the final stage after finishing 6th in the Eneco Tour Stage 6, 17km individual time trial on Saturday in Ardooie.
Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEDGE) took over the overall lead by winning the time trial with a time of 20'25". He took over the race lead from Tom Boonen, who led by 1" going into the stage.
Lars Boom (Rabobank) is in 2nd place overall going into the final stage, trailing Tuft by 4". He was 3rd in the time trial, back from Tuft by 6". Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team) finished 2nd in the time trial (+5").
Chavanel had the fastest checkpoint time by less than a second, but couldn't maintain his speed in the second part of the course.
OPQS looks next to the final 202km stage on Sunday in Maldegem.
"I did a good time trial," Chavanel said. "The parcour was fast and windy, and I'm not surprised that a guy as Tuft won the stage. I beat him at Driedaagse van de Panne, today it was his turn to beat me. But the race is not yet finished. Tomorrow will be a battle in the Flandres. We have three guys on the top 10 and a specialist of this kind of parcour, Tom Boonen, 12th at 55" back. We will definitely try to conquer this race tomorrow. "
