The 2007 Eneco Tour, which used to be known as the Benelux Tour is held from August 22 - 29 and takes the riders through Belgium and the Netherlands.

The flat nature of the 2007 Eneco Tour continued in Stage 5 which rolled onwards through The Netherlands. The course was a 179.9km flattie starting at Terneuzen and finishing in Nieuwegein.

If ever there was a feel good victory in a cycling race it was played out through the exuberance and excitement of the stage winner Luciano André Pagliarini  (Saunier Duval - Prodir) from Brazil. I found that I enjoyed watching him enjoy his victory almost as much as actually enjoyed it - if that makes sense.

This was his first Pro Tour victory and there was no doubting the unadulterated pleasure he felt over the victory. He dedicated his victory to his baby daughter which was touching and his excitement over the win was gratifying to see. Blown kisses to the camera after crossing the line, cradle-rocking motions and handshakes and hugs all round - Luciano was making the most of his success and more power to him.

With no mountains to speak of the Mountain Classification was unchanged and with a 3 man escape that started after the first kilometre of the day, the Sprint Classification was unchanged until the final sprint for the finish. In that, Mark Cavendish took second place across the line to extend his lead to 14 points with Pagliarini moving into second place courtesy of his win.

The General Classification was once again unchanged with Nick Nuyens still clinging to his 10 second lead.

Stage 5 Results (Top 10)

1 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval - Prodir     4.01.10 (44.757km/h)
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile Team                                       
3 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank                                              
4 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Unibet.com                                           
5 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team                   
6 Alexei Markov (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne                                     
7 David Kopp (Ger) Gerolsteiner                                            
8 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep - Innergetic                             
9 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC                                           
10 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas                                          
 

Overall GC Standings (Top 10)

1 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone             21.12.57
2 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank                                                     0.10
3 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                    0.14
4 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval - Prodir                                     0.16
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Predictor - Lotto                             0.25
6 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor - Lotto                                                     0.37
7 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Rabobank                                                        0.41
8 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep - Innergetic                                 0.48
9 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil - Shimano                                                 0.49
10 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil - Shimano                                         0.50

Points Classification

1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile Team                                                       74 pts
2 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval - Prodir          60
3 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Unibet.com                                                                  49

Mountains Classification

1 Martin Pedersen (Den) Team CSC                                         15 pts
2 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Milram                                      15
3 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Skil - Shimano                            6

Teams

1 Predictor-Lotto                                      63.40.26
2 Rabobank                                                       0.19
3 Caisse d'Epargne                                           1.01