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Schumacher wins Benelux prologue

Schumacher believes that the course is well-suited to him.

DEN HELDER, Netherlands, -- Germany's Stefan Schumacher will wear the leader's jersey at the start of the Benelux Tour after winning the time-trial prologue in Den Helder on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old Gerolsteiner rider set a time of seven minutes for the 5.8-km course.

George Hincapie of the U.S. finished second in an official time of 7:01, with Dutch rider Joost Posthuma third in 7:01.8.

Schumacher won two stages of the Giro d'Italia in May and wore the race leader's pink jersey for two days with some aggressive riding.

He considers himself a strong contender for the eight-day ProTour race that crosses the Netherlands and Belgium.

"I started the race determined to do well and I knew I had a chance of winning the prologue," he said.

"I'm going to try and win the race overall because the course suits me. The stage four time trial around Landgraaf and the final stage to Ans in Belgium seem made to measure for me.

"Of course there are still seven stages to go and anything can happen because there are a lot of other potential winners."

World champion Tom Boonen of Belgium finished an impressive fifth in 7:04. He will try to win the flat stages and take time bonuses to snatch the leader's jersey.

Boonen retired from the Tour de France on stage 15 to L'Alpe d'Huez but has been training hard so he can defend his world title in Salzburg, Austria on Sept. 24.

Boonen is especially targeting Monday's fifth stage to his hometown of Balen.

"The race marks the start of my build-up to the world championships and winning in Balen would be great for my morale. I'd really like to win the world title for a second time because it's an incredible feeling wearing the world champion's rainbow jersey."

Thursday's first road race stage of the Benelux Tour runs from Wieringerwerf to Hoogeveen in northern Netherlands. The 176.9-km stage is completely flat and crosses the 30-km Afsluitdijk dyke.

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