Team Radio Shack’s Ben Hermans took the victory in the last stage of the Tour of Belgium, a stage with 14 climbs, including the Liège-Bastogne-Liège climbs of Côte de la Redoute and Mont Theux. The Belgian rider preceded Stijn Devolder who took the overall victory. With 17 K to go, both riders escaped from a select group of seven riders which included Team RadioShack’s Geoffroy Lequatre, Philippe Gilbert, Thomas De Gendt and former world champions Philipp Walsleben and Oscar Freire.

“Everything went so well today,” explained Ben Hermans (23) after his first victory as a professional rider. “Since teammate Geoffroy Lequatre was in a break the whole day, I could save my legs. In the end I had the advantage that Stijn Devolder gave everything to gain as many as seconds as possible. He was riding for that black leader’s jersey. We worked well together. I could take the stage victory, Stijn the overall. This is a big step forward in my career. I am happy that after three nervous flat stages I could show my good legs again, as I also did in the time trial of yesterday. Honestly I was fed up a few days ago after losing one and a half minutes in the first stage because of two flat tires. When you see now that I only missed 1:21 for the overall victory…”

“Maybe that was his luck,” added an optimistic Team Director Dirk Demol. “If Ben would not have lost those precious seconds, Devolder maybe would never have allowed Hermans company till the end. Moreover I prefer a stage victory to a say third place on the final podium. This is all good. Yesterday I was not happy. Without that thunderstorm in the time trial, Vaitkus would have been in the leader’s jersey today. Sometimes you have bad luck, sometimes you win and Ben deserves this. He is a talented rider who impressed everyone in the Critérium International earlier this year. When I saw Devolder’s intentions, I told Ben to focus on him. An unchained Devolder never fails. Hats off to Geoffroy Lequatre too. He was in the attack after 18 km of racing. He worked hard until the end and even took the fourth spot in the stage. We may not complain.”

Result 5th stage: Herstal-Herstal, 173 K:
1 Ben Hermans (TEAM RADIOSHACK);
2 Stijn Devolder;
3 Philippe Gilbert 0.48;
4 Geoffroy Lequatre ;
5 Thomas De Gendt;
6 Philipp Walsleben;
7 Bram Tankink;
8 Dominique Cornu;
9 Oscar Freire;
10 Nick Nuyens 1.22

Final Overall Classification:
1 Stijn Devolder;
2 Dominique Cornu 0.50;
3 Bram Tankink 0.58;
4 Philippe Gilbert 1.09;
5 Ben Hermans 1.21;
6 Thomas De Gendt 1.23;
7 Koos Moerenhout 1.37;
8 Oscar Freire 1.38;
9 Nick Nuyens 1.38;
10 Cyril Lemoine 1.48