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Farrar takes over at Eneco
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Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) sprinted to victory in the 184km first stage at the 5th Eneco Tour on Wednesday in Belgium.
A major crash marred the finale into Ardooie, Belgium, sending scores of riders somersaulting to the ground in a high-speed melee. Farrar avoided the mishap and darted to victory, sprinting ahead of Tom Boonen (Quick Step), with Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia-HTC) coming through third.
It appeared as two riders clipped wheels just as Farrar pounced off the third wheel and won quite easily ahead of Boonen with his arms wide open. Two riders went down hard in the crash and another half dozen fell as the pack roared in behind.
All that happened in Farrar’s rear-view mirror and the victory pushes Farrar into the leader’s jersey of the eight-day ProTour race.
The victory is Farrar’s fifth on his breakout 2009 season, which included a stage victory in Tirreno-Adriatico in March, the prologue and the overall at the Delta Tour Zeeland in June and the Vattenfall Cyclassics on Sunday in Hamburg.
Farrar started the stage in second place overall, just one second behind prologue winner Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step). The French rider pipped Farrar on a short, but fast 4.4km prologue course to open the eight-day Eneco Tour on Tuesday.
"I'm in the best form of my life. The team was totally behind me. I couldn't disappoint," said Farrar, winner of Sunday's Hamburg Cyclassics. "I was already very good in the Tour de France. And now after a little rest I feel even better. I'm very fast."
Gorik Gardeyn (Silence-Lotto) and France's Yoann Offredo (Francaise des Jeux) were both taken to hospital after picking up injuries in the final sprint.
The Eneco Tour continues Thursday with the 178.1km second stage from Ardooie to Brussels in another course favoring Farrar and the rest of the sprinters.
Web: Here is Belgian TV on the final kilometer.
