Dutch rider Thomas Dekker grabbed the overall lead in the Eneco Tour as Spaniard Pablo Lastras of the Caisse d’Epargne team won a crash-marred sixth stage from Beek to Landgraaf on Tuesday.

Rabobank rider Dekker took the red leader’s jersey from Belgian Nick Nuyens (Cofidis), who was forced to abandon after a fall 40km into the penultimate stage of the race through the so-called Benelux countries.

The Spaniard went it alone about 10km from the line after attacking an earlier breakaway and held off a push by Dutch rider Maarten Tjallingii to finish ahead of Belgian Steven Caethoven and Anders Lund of Denmark.

“I had this stage marked. The route, with the climb up the Cauberg famous from the Amstel Gold Race, is one I liked a lot and I knew today was a day to give it a try,” Lastras said at the line. “It was important to get into the right breakaway and I did it 156km from the finish.

"Luckily, it was the right move. Later, I worked into a group fo 12 riders and I had to try to escape. I attacked with Lund some 50km from the finish and I felt I had to legs, so I gave it another try with 9km to go. In the last kilometer, the differences were only 10 seconds, but I had a lot of motivation and I gave everything and that allowed me to make it to the finish. It’s been a long time since I’ve been looking for a win and today it finally happened. I’m very happy and I hope I’ve shown that I can have a strong end of the season.”

The race concludes with Wednesday’s 30km time-trial around the Sittard region, with Dekker’s leading rival expected to be Briton David Millar, third in the standings six seconds behind the Dutch rider.

Millar, fresh off winning the British national road championship, will be keen to win his first ProTour stage race since coming back from a two-year doping ban in 2006.

Dekker was a victim of the same fall that KO’d Nuyens but despite sustaining cuts and grazes, mainly to the top of his left thigh, he managed to get back on his bike and continue through the pain.

“I hurt my elbow and left shoulder but I'm suffering mainly from pain in my legs. It's painful but I hope it's not too serious," said Dekker who finished the stage among the peloton some 15 second behind Lastras.

Lastras formed part of a breakaway group of 12 riders from the opening kilometers and they went on to build a lead of five minutes on the peloton.

---

Results
1. Pablo Lastras Garcia (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne 4:15:28 (41.6kph)
2. Steven Caethoven (B), Chocolade Jacques
3. Anders Lund (Dk), CSC
4. Sebastien Hinault (F), Credit Agricole, all same time
5. Maarten Tjallingii (Nl), Skil-Shimano, at 0:03
6. Sebastien Rosseler (B), Quick Step, at 0:13
7. Kim Kirchen (Lux), T-Mobile
8. Mirco Lorenzetto (I), Milram
9. Steven De Jongh (Nl), Quick Step
10. Matthew Goss (Aus), CSC  

---

Overall
1. Thomas Dekker (Nl), Rabobank 25:28:48
2. Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, at 0:04
3. David Millar (GB), Saunier Duval-Prodir, at 0:06
4. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (B), Predictor-Lotto, at 0:15
5. Leif Hoste (B), Predictor-Lotto, at 0:27
6. Leon Van Bon (Nl), Rabobank, at 0:31
7. Bram Tankink (Nl), Quick Step, at 0:38
8. Paul Martens (G), Skil-Shimano, at 0:39
9. Piet Rooijakkers (Nl), Skil-Shimano, at 0:40
10. Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Sp), Rabobank, s.t.