The race starts with a 6.2 km long prologue that gives a stage win chance to the TT specialists and also perhaps allows them to spend an extra day or two in the leader's jersey.
Arguably the pre stage favourite Schomber is among the early starters and as expected he sets the best time at 7'18'', but will it last as the fastest?
Van Aert is one of the main challengers today. He does place 2nd, but with a 16'' deficit that's a big gap on this short distance.
Scotson has a better showing to take 2nd place off Van Aert, 8'' down.
Sterbini doesn't have a good day as he's already only 7th when finishing.
Frison makes it across the line with the 4th best time. There are still contenders to start, but I think we can see that Schomber had a pretty effort today.
Kung is one of the GC contenders for this race. He finishes 6th which is probably below par for him, but if he distances the other GC riders then it should still be fine.
Eekhoff could be another one of those as he has a good day and sets the 3rd best time.
Kennett limits his losses to 20'' as he'll try to contest the sprint tomorrow.
Howson is the best pure time-trialist here and he shows the course is long enough to take the lead, 1'' faster than Schomber!
Chavanne is at the other end of the spectrum as a pure prologue specialist. He placed 3rd.
The 5+ km also affect Pedersen as he places 8th.
Kasperkiewicz has a very nice effort today as he even finishes ahead of Kung. That should help in the overall classification.
And with that we are done with stage 1. Damien Howson takes the stage win and overall and points jersey's for today at least. U25 jersey goes to Geary. Tomorrow should be a day for the sprinters.
Benelux Challenge - Stage 1 
