Eneco Tour (st. 4)
Italian champion 7” away from victory -3rd on stage and GC- in Eneco Tour ITT; LottoNL-Jumbo take 1-2 with Van Emden y Kelderman
Returning to racing after the Tour de France, Adriano Malori was tremendously close to glory on Thursday during the Eneco Tour ITT, a 14km route in Hoogerheide with some rough roads, yet absent of technical sections. The Traversetolo-based rider was only beaten by two locals -Jos van Emden (16’34”) and Wilco Kelderman (+5”)- after a very powerful display (3rd, +7”).
The Italian now sits in 3rd overall, 7” behind the white jersey, with three difficult stages full of hills ahead for their team-mates. The first one, from Riemst to Sittard-Geleen, will include no less than 23 small hills in just 179.6km on roads from the Amstel Gold Race, with the weekend bringing reduced versions of Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Saturday) and the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Sunday).