Image 1 of 4 A delighted Lars Boom (Rabobank) wins the 2012 Eneco Tour (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 2 of 4 Lars Boom (Rabobank) on the podium at the end of the Eneco Tour (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 3 of 4 Podium finishers Chavanel, Boom and Tersptra at the 2012 Eneco Tour (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 4 of 4 Alessandro Ballan (BMC) celebrates winning stage 7 at the 2012 Eneco Tour (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Lars Boom (Rabobank) clinched the general classification at the 2012 Eneco Tour in Geraardsburgen on Sunday. The race's final stage was won by Alessandro Ballan (BMC), which was the Italian's third win of the season. Ballan finished just ahead of Boom in the gruelling seventh stage, which took in three ascents of the iconic Muur van Geraardsbergen, and it was enough for Boom to move up from second overall into first place to take the victory.

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In a tight finish that was preceeded by a nine-man breakaway, Ballan prevailed over Boom by the smallest of margins, with Movistar’s Francisco Ventoso six seconds further back in third place. Nick Nuyens (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) and Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM) completed the top five stage finishers.

Ballan had already tasted success this season at the Giro di Toscano and the Giro del Trentino, and the 32-year-old former road world champion once again proved his prowess as a climber by conquering the Eneco Tour’s toughest stage. After a barren couple of years he has been rejuvenated and is enjoying an Indian summer to his career.

Boom has been a prolific winner over the last few seasons on both the road circuit and the cyclo-cross circuit. Earlier this year he won his sixth consecutive Dutch national cyclo-cross championship and last season he won two overall stages at the Tour of Britain and the overall classification, as well as stages at the Tour of Qatar and the Critérium du Dauphiné. He will be delighted at winning the Eneco Tour, part of which has taken place in his homeland.

Boom had trailed Svain Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge) by four seconds overnight, with Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) lurking dangerously just sixteen seconds further back in third. It was a day to forget for Tuft, however, who fell to third place behind Boom and Chavanel before incurring a time penalty that resulted in him missing out on a podium place. Third spot was taken by Chavanel’s teammate Niki Terpstra. Spain's Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) finished in fifth place overall in what was his comeback race from his six-month doping-related suspension.

Results

# Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team 4:54:16 2 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:02 3 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:06 4 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 5 Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 6 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre - ISD 7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Radioshack-Nissan 8 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 9 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 0:00:10 10 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 11 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Radioshack-Nissan 12 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 13 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Movistar Team 14 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 15 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Radioshack-Nissan 16 Ben Hermans (Bel) Radioshack-Nissan 0:00:16 17 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:00:18 18 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 19 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:22 20 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:25 21 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 0:00:30 22 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 23 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Orica GreenEdge 24 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica GreenEdge 25 Christian Knees (Ger) Sky Procycling 26 Miguel Minguez Ayala (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:00:34 27 Mickael Delage (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 28 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 29 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin - Sharp 30 Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 31 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's 32 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha Team 33 Simon Geschke (Ger) Argos-Shimano 34 Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 35 Svein Tuft (Can) Orica GreenEdge 0:00:40 36 David Tanner (Aus) Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 37 Sergey Renev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:43 38 Tim Declercq (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 39 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Sky Procycling 0:00:46 40 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team 41 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 42 Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (CRc) Movistar Team 43 Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 0:00:49 44 Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Astana Pro Team 0:00:53 45 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:00:57 46 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Movistar Team 47 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha Team 48 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha Team 0:01:04 49 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:01:08 50 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin - Sharp 0:01:12 51 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 0:01:48 52 Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 53 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 54 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 55 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team 56 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) FDJ-Big Mat 57 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Garmin - Sharp 58 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre - ISD 59 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 60 Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:02:11 61 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre - ISD 0:02:15 62 Roy Curvers (Ned) Argos-Shimano 63 Wouter Mol (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:02:24 64 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 0:02:26 65 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 0:02:28 66 Adriano Malori (Ita) Lampre - ISD 67 Bert De Backer (Bel) Argos-Shimano 0:02:41 68 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 69 Federico Canuti (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 70 Mauro Da Dalto (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 71 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 72 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 73 Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team 74 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team 75 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:03:13 76 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Radioshack-Nissan 0:04:47 77 Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin - Sharp 78 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 0:04:55 79 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:05:00 80 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:05:13 81 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's 0:05:41 82 Maarten Neyens (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 0:05:47 83 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica GreenEdge 84 Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:06:17 85 Pierre Cazaux (Fra) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:07:43 86 Arnoud Van Groen (Ned) Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's 0:08:55 87 Alan Perez Lezaun (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:10:29 88 Davide Appollonio (Ita) Sky Procycling 0:11:12 89 Luke Rowe (GBr) Sky Procycling 90 Adam Blythe (GBr) BMC Racing Team 91 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Argos-Shimano 92 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 93 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team 94 Jens Mouris (Ned) Orica GreenEdge 95 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Orica GreenEdge 0:14:41 96 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 97 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's 98 Leigh Howard (Aus) Orica GreenEdge 99 Sander Cordeel (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 100 Frederique Robert (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 101 Adrian Saez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 102 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 0:15:25 103 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:17:05 104 Victor Cabedo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi DNF Rudiger Selig (Ger) Katusha Team DNF Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Katusha Team DNF David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Sharp DNF Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) Radioshack-Nissan DNF Robert Wagner (Ger) Radioshack-Nissan DNF Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Astana Pro Team DNF Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team DNF Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team DNF Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team DNF Martijn Keizer (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team DNF Kenny De Haes (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team DNF Alex Dowsett (GBr) Sky Procycling DNF Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Sky Procycling DNF Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank DNF Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep DNF Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep DNF Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep DNF Theo Bos (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team DNF Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team DNF Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team DNF Mark Renshaw (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team DNF Andreas Klier (Ger) Garmin - Sharp DNF Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha Team DNF Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Garmin - Sharp DNF Raymond Kreder (Ned) Garmin - Sharp DNF Marcel Kittel (Ger) Argos-Shimano DNF Albert Timmer (Ned) Argos-Shimano DNF Tom Veelers (Ned) Argos-Shimano DNF Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD DNF Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre - ISD DNF Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre - ISD DNF Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) Orica GreenEdge DNF Tiziano Dall'antonia (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale DNF Dominik Nerz (Ger) Liquigas-Cannondale DNF Boris Shpilevsky (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale DNF Kristof Goddaert (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale DNF Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale DNF Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale DNF Jimmy Casper (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale DNF Manuel Belletti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale DNF David Boucher (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat DNF Steve Chainel (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat DNF Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat DNF Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator DNF Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator DNF Sven Vandousselaere (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator DNF Jelle Wallays (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator DNF Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's DNF Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's DNS Simone Ponzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team DNS Mikhail Ignatyev (Rus) Katusha Team

Final general classification # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Lars Boom Netherlands Rabobank Cycling Team 24:51:13 2 Sylvain Chavanel France Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:00:26 3 Niki Terpstra Netherlands Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:00:49 4 Alberto Contador Velasco Spain Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 0:00:55 5 Luke Durbridge Australia Orica GreenEdge 6 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas Spain Movistar Team 0:00:58 7 Svein Tuft Canada Orica GreenEdge 0:01:00 8 Michal Kwiatkowski Poland Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:01:05 9 Sebastian Langeveld Netherlands Orica GreenEdge 0:01:07 10 Jan Bakelants Belgium Radioshack-Nissan 0:01:13 11 Tony Gallopin France Radioshack-Nissan 0:01:27 12 Nick Nuyens Belgium Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 0:01:35 13 Ben Hermans Belgium Radioshack-Nissan 0:01:36 14 Giacomo Nizzolo Italy Radioshack-Nissan 0:01:37 15 Christian Knees Germany Sky Procycling 0:01:41 16 Taylor Phinney United States BMC Racing Team 0:01:45 17 Tom Boonen Belgium Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:01:49 18 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi Spain Movistar Team 0:01:55 19 Alessandro Ballan Italy BMC Racing Team 0:01:59 20 Alexander Kristoff Norway Katusha Team 21 Maciej Bodnar Poland Liquigas-Cannondale 0:02:06 22 Dries Devenyns Belgium Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:02:09 23 Diego Ulissi Italy Lampre - ISD 0:02:12 24 Marco Marcato Italy Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:02:14 25 Heinrich Haussler Australia Garmin - Sharp 0:02:21 26 Simon Spilak Slovenia Katusha Team 0:02:25 27 Simon Geschke Germany Argos-Shimano 28 Andrey Amador Bakkazakova Costa Rica Movistar Team 29 Ignatas Konovalovas Lithuania Movistar Team 0:02:29 30 Manuele Mori Italy Lampre - ISD 0:02:42 31 Greg Van Avermaet Belgium BMC Racing Team 0:02:44 32 Mickael Delage France FDJ-Big Mat 0:02:45 33 Martin Elmiger Switzerland AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:47 34 Salvatore Puccio Italy Sky Procycling 0:02:50 35 Ramunas Navardauskas Lithuania Garmin - Sharp 0:02:51 36 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil Spain Movistar Team 0:03:09 37 David Tanner Australia Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 0:03:10 38 Bram Tankink Netherlands Rabobank Cycling Team 0:03:22 39 Tanel Kangert Estonia Astana Pro Team 0:03:26 40 Adriano Malori Italy Lampre - ISD 0:03:31 41 Pablo Lastras Garcia Spain Movistar Team 0:03:35 42 Tom Van Asbroeck Belgium Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 0:03:36 43 Sep Vanmarcke Belgium Garmin - Sharp 0:03:39 44 Imanol Erviti Spain Movistar Team 0:03:52 45 Frederik Veuchelen Belgium Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:03:55 46 Arnaud Demare France FDJ-Big Mat 0:03:57 47 Pieter Jacobs Belgium Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 0:04:06 48 Gustav Larsson Sweden Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:04:13 49 Jean-Pierre Drucker Luxembourg Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's 0:04:15 50 Jurgen Roelandts Belgium Lotto Belisol Team 0:04:19 51 Sergey Renev Kazakhstan Astana Pro Team 0:04:43 52 William Bonnet France FDJ-Big Mat 0:04:44 53 Daniele Pietropolli Italy Lampre - ISD 0:04:46 54 Gert Dockx Belgium Lotto Belisol Team 0:05:19 55 Kris Boeckmans Belgium Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:05:25 56 Roy Curvers Netherlands Argos-Shimano 0:05:35 57 Wouter Mol Netherlands Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:06:00 58 Valentin Iglinskiy Kazakhstan Astana Pro Team 0:06:01 59 Linus Gerdemann Germany Radioshack-Nissan 0:06:04 60 Danilo Hondo Germany Lampre - ISD 0:06:09 61 Karsten Kroon Netherlands Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 0:06:20 62 Dennis Van Winden Netherlands Rabobank Cycling Team 0:06:31 63 Jens Keukeleire Belgium Orica GreenEdge 0:06:50 64 Mauro Da Dalto Italy Liquigas-Cannondale 0:07:22 65 Maxim Belkov Russia Katusha Team 0:07:33 66 Daniel Oss Italy Liquigas-Cannondale 0:07:34 67 Evgeny Petrov Russia Astana Pro Team 0:07:35 68 Dmitriy Gruzdev Kazakhstan Astana Pro Team 0:07:41 69 Bert De Backer Belgium Argos-Shimano 70 Jorge Azanza Soto Spain Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:08:01 71 Marcus Burghardt Germany BMC Racing Team 0:08:04 72 Tosh Van Der Sande Belgium Lotto Belisol Team 0:08:59 73 Matteo Tosatto Italy Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 0:09:01 74 Jack Bauer New Zealand Garmin - Sharp 0:09:12 75 Maarten Neyens Belgium Lotto Belisol Team 0:09:50 76 James Vanlandschoot Belgium Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's 0:09:58 77 Martin Kohler Switzerland BMC Racing Team 0:11:07 78 Jens Mouris Netherlands Orica GreenEdge 0:11:37 79 Miguel Minguez Ayala Spain Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:11:40 80 Gabriel Rasch Norway FDJ-Big Mat 0:12:00 81 Manuel Quinziato Italy BMC Racing Team 0:12:22 82 Luke Rowe Great Britain Sky Procycling 0:13:07 83 Laurens De Vreese Belgium Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 0:13:31 84 Federico Canuti Italy Liquigas-Cannondale 0:13:37 85 Tim Declercq Belgium Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 0:13:41 86 Alan Perez Lezaun Spain Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:13:48 87 Ramon Sinkeldam Netherlands Argos-Shimano 0:13:53 88 Jon Izaguirre Insausti Spain Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:14:29 89 Pierre Cazaux France Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:14:37 90 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez Spain Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 0:15:27 91 Jesus Herrada Lopez Spain Movistar Team 0:17:27 92 Adam Blythe Great Britain BMC Racing Team 0:18:54 93 Arnoud Van Groen Netherlands Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's 0:19:51 94 Frederique Robert Belgium Lotto Belisol Team 0:20:07 95 Victor Cabedo Spain Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:20:42 96 Fumiyuki Beppu Japan Orica GreenEdge 0:20:59 97 Davide Appollonio Italy Sky Procycling 0:21:31 98 Sander Cordeel Belgium Lotto Belisol Team 0:25:59 99 Fabio Sabatini Italy Liquigas-Cannondale 0:26:22 100 Leigh Howard Australia Orica GreenEdge 0:26:48 101 Manuele Boaro Italy Team Saxo Bank / Tinkoff Bank 0:27:37 102 Sjef De Wilde Belgium Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's 0:32:42 103 Pablo Urtasun Perez Spain Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:43:43 104 Adrian Saez Spain Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:45:24