The final day and it's sunny. 183kms of rather flat terrain with two cobble sections that total a combined distance of 1.2kms.
Favourites are Farrar, Aulas, and Tronet.
After stage 5, Wyss has taken over the from Lebris by 32 seconds.
The Frenchman is by far the better cobbler but with very few cobble sections and they are a long way from the finish, can Lebris attack at the right spots to win the Benelux Challenge on the final stage.
Let's find out. Off to the action we go.
Two riders attack right away at the sound of the gun.
Farabaugh (+26'04") P. Van der Ploeg (+13'31")
After seeing his older brother Neil win yesterday Paul Van der Ploeg wants to be the one to continue Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling unbelievable success they have had this season.
And that's that. No more attacks. The duo hits the first and longer of the 2 cobble sections with 128kms to go with a 5'20" advantage.
15kms later they arrive at the 1st sprint checkpoint. Van der Ploeg rolls over the line taking the prize money in front of Farabaugh.
We get word that the peloton has safely made it over the first cobble section without any problems. 5'40" from now they will be making their way to the sprint point, will be interesting to see if the sprinters fight for the 3rd place available.
The sprinters don't bother but Neil Van der Ploeg does. That doesn't make much sense...
I guess he couldn't take his younger brother getting all the glory up front because there is really no reason for this. He is 42nd overall (+9'10") and 9th in sprint points with 25 points. Very strange. Perhaps he just wanted some more TV time?
At the 2nd of 3 sprint points with 93kms to go Van der Ploeg plays nice and allows Farabaugh to roll over the line for the small amount of prize money.
The peloton comes through 4'35" behind the breakaway and again it's Neil Van der Ploeg jumping out of the pack to take 3rd.
Van der Ploeg brothers are sure getting a lot of attention today.
The final cobble section came and went without any problems. So we are looking at a sprint finish with Team Vontobel doing their best to bring back the breakaway.
Although, it should be noted that there is a slight speed bump around 10kms out from the finish which could disturb a routine bunch sprint (or possibly help the breakaway stay away).
What is this? Attacks 42kms out from the finish! They are lead by the minions of Chiquita. They certainly love trying to stir things up. Murphy (92nd Overall - +16'25") is followed by
Kolobnev (96th Overall - +17'44") Oba (82nd Overall - +14'53") Mundle (102nd Overall - +19'21") Joseph (12th Overall and Co-Leader - +3'37")
Jelloul (18th Overall - +4'38") also wants in on this move.
But, more importantly is the man trying to counter behind him...
Wyss is chasing him down himself! This race is wide open now as Team Vontobel is done chasing. It's up to the sprinter's teams to keep this race under control otherwise the GC contenders are going to keep throwing last ditch punches at each other. Which would suit the breakaway riders nicely...
(I can already hear whispers of another Eddie Stobart win)
It's a cat and mouse game all over the road... our cameras can't keep up.
When the dust settles we see Kolobnev and Mundle have broken away and are closing in on the breakaway.
Behind them is a group of 4:
Wu (105th Overall and Co-Leader - +20'13") Oba Stoltz (59th Overall - +10'53") Ostergaard (114th Overall - +22'05")
So, the sprinter's teams pulled back a majority of the first attack but a few new names have got free.
Then there is this crazy event happening on the front of the peloton. Believe it or not but this is the 4th consecutive attack made by Joseph. Each time he has been countered by Wyss and Roulston (4th Overall - +1'28").
But, every time he looks back and sees Wyss and Roulston on his wheel he stops working and the group drops back to the peloton. Again, this is his 4th attempt at doing this!
Attempt #5... Every time they get brought back the peloton stops working. Looks like they don't care about the other riders that have jumped off the front. The only thing they care about is keeping the yellow jersey in their sights.
While our cameras continue to follow this weird back-and-forth action the breakaway has pasted through the 3rd and final sprint checkpoint.
1st Farabaugh / 2nd Van der Ploeg
...and 3rd Mundle chasing with Kolobnev 40 seconds behind them with 24kms to go.
Attempt #5 is brought back and the peloton quits chasing again. With everyone up the road over 10 minutes back on GC and the sprinter's teams don't have the amount of firepower needed to reduce the gap. They all just give up.
Which means one of the 8 riders up the road is going to win the stage...
(more whispers of another Eddie Stobart win...)
Attempt #6 with 20kms to go (for the peloton, the breakaway is 14.5kms to go). If the peloton isn't careful about chasing, a few riders up front are going to jump a lot of places in GC on the final day.
As usually they are brought back... We can thank Team TomTom for continuously shutting down these attempts.
10kms to go, so time for a rapid recap of the field.
E1: P. Van der Ploeg (+13'31") and Farabaugh (+26'04")
E2 (+40"): Kolobnev (+17'44)
E3 (+40"): Mundle (+19'21")
E4 (+35"): Wu (+20'13"), Oba (+14'53"), Stoltz (+10'53"),
and Ostergaard (+22'05")
Then the peloton an astonishing 5'45" (and growing) behind the E4 group.
5kms to go and P. Van der Ploeg and Farabaugh are still going strong. Kolobnev is doing everything he can to close the gap but he is running out of time.
Look at this! 4kms to go and Farabaugh attacks P. Van der Ploeg. He knows he can't beat Van der Ploeg in a sprint so this gives him the best chance to win.
Farabaugh takes the wide turn and sees the banner!
Does Van der Ploeg have anything left in the tank to pull back the gap and take another win for Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling?
No! It's a solo victory for Adam Farabaugh!
What a day for him and his team.
He beats the almighty Eddie Stobart team as Paul Van der Ploeg cross the line for 2nd. Bragging rights are in order for Neil as his younger brother just didn't have the energy left at the end of a long day to get the job done.
A very quiet 3rd place for Kolobnev, but his team should be a little happy with result even though he lost all ambitions of a good GC placing on the 1st stage.
Ostergaard leads home the rest of the riders that got away up front.
Wu 5th, Stoltz 6th, a very tired Mundle 7th, and Oba 8th.
That just leaves the peloton to fight for 9th, over 6 minutes away from the finish line. Speaking of which, we are getting word of an attack...
Joseph has gone again. The 8th attempt (I think, I have lost count). But, this time he doesn't have Wyss or Roulston on his back wheel. He is 6kms out so he could be looking a gaining around a minute or so if the peloton doesn't react fast. A top 10 or even top 5 in GC is possible if he can hold them off.
Nope not gonna happen, just like his previous attempts he is pulled back.
The last thing to fight for here then is the jersey.
Very limited points as the peloton fights for 9th place.
Sutton takes it over Gajek on the line.
Bole tries to get the 3 sprint points he needs to overtake Sweeting but falls shorts by finishing 16th on the stage.
Wyss cross the line in the peloton and is the 1st ever winner of the Benelux Challenge! 2nd to Lebris and 3rd to Sweeting who comes home right in front of Wyss.
The biggest movers in GC on the final stage?
Paul Van der Ploeg jumps all the way to 9th overall (and becomes best young rider, and helps his team win the team competition), so perhaps he does get the last laugh over his older brother Neil even though he didn't get the stage win.
However, he isn't even our biggest mover for today. Stoltz is able to jump up to take 8th overall. Good for him.
That does it for our coverage. I hope you enjoyed it.
We had a bit of everything here and it made for a fun and exciting race to watch. Congrats to all the winners.
