Until 2012 the ‘Muur van Geraardsbergen’ was an icon in the Tour of Flanders. It was banned from the race and then the Eneco Tour adopted the short, steep an cobbled climb. On the first occasions the ‘Muur’ debuted as a finish, in the 2014 edition it opens a heroic closing weekend with stages resembling all major spring classics .
In 2012 it was Italian Alessandro Ballan who was strongest in the final stage, closely followed by Lars Boom who went on to win the overall. Last year Zdenek Stybar (image) won the ‘Muur’ stage and in doing so he took the GC.
Stage 5 sees 160 kilometres of racing on a route with twenty nasty climbs like the Kanarieberg, Kruisberg, Leberg, Berendries and Valkenberg. The finale is a 25.6 kilometres local circuit with the Wall of Geraardsbergen, Bosberg, Onkerzelestraat, Denderoordberg and Brugstraat.
Eneco Tour 2014 stage 5: Images and more
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