26 mei 2010
- 30 mei 2010
Tour of Belgium
From Wednesday May 26th to� Sunday May
30th, Koen competed in the Tour of Belgium. The stage
race consisted of five stages of which the 4th was an
individual time trial over 16.7 kilometres.
During the first stage a group of five got away from the
peloton. The riders of Skil-Shimano, including Koen, rode at the
front of the peloton to catch the group to set up a mass sprint for
Skil-Shimano sprinter Kenny van Hummel. Unfortunately Van Hummel
was in a crash in the finale. Koen just managed to avoid this crash
but because Van Hummel was caught up it meant that the objective
was just to get over the finish line in one piece. Koen crossed the
line in 30th place.
The second stage finished better. A complete peloton disputed
the stage win and Koen and his teammate Tom Veelers set up their
sprinter Kenny van Hummel on the wheel of the Vacansoleil team who
were trying to deliver their man, Bozic, to the line. Van Hummel
overtook Bozic in the final metres to take the win. Koen finished
in 15th place.
The third stage from Knokke/Heist to Mechelen finished after
192.2km in a mass sprint. This time Frenchman Jimmy Casper won.
Koen was 24th.
On Saturday the 16.7km time trial took the riders in the
surrounds of Herzele. Koens teammate Belgian Dominique Cornu won
the time trial and took over the lead in the overall
classification. De Kort came in 48th place, 1 minute and
9 seconds behind Cornu. With Rabobank rider Koos Moerenhout and
Belgian Stijn Devolder from Quickstep being only four seconds
behind Cornu in the overall classification, Sundays stage was set
to be a big battle.
In the final stage, Koen worked very hard with his teammates.
Unfortunately the strength of the other teams was too much. Cornu
finished in 8th place, 48 seconds behind compatriot Stij
Devolder who took over the leaders jersey. Koen finished in the
peloton in 37th place six and a half minutes later. In
the final general classification Koen finished in 47th
place.