Rabobank Sports Director Erik Dekker was determined on Friday. "We will do anything we can to win the general ranking," he said then. It was clear in the first few kilometers of the concluding stage that he had not been boasting. The Rabo team took to the head of the pack and cranked up the pace to such heights that nobody could attack. "We had of course figured out which 'unusual cyclists' would be participating in the in-course sprints. There were not that many so there was a real opportunity," explained Dekker. "But you still have to do it of course. It looks very easy but it is not."

And it showed in the first of the two in-course sprints. Stefan van Dijk barely squeaked by Langeveld who, because of that, only won two bonus seconds and not the three he needed. "We then still needed one second and we had one chance to do it," Dekker concluded. But Langeveld seized that tiny opportunity. He came in second, behind Robert Hunter. Two more seconds were added and he passed Paul Martens with them. The danger was the bonus seconds at the finish. That danger increased when Rabo's fastest man, Graeme Brown, hit a stake and fell, without any bad consequences, in the last but one turn. But, while Brown was slowly coming to his senses, nobody was capable of threatening Langeveld.

Mark Cavendish won the stage in Eindhoven and Langeveld won the general ranking. "He really deserves it," thought Dekker. "He is a great guy on the team, a good colleague, someone with enormous perception, and also a smart cyclist in the race. He picked things up really well after that fractured wrist. Where Sébastian will end? He has got what it takes to become a very good cyclist who can do well especially in the classics. In the short run? To me he is one of the top favorites for the Dutch championships next week."