I made my debut for Triks Custom Season today. It was a 20km long time-trial. At the start, I was really, really nervous. Longer TTs aren't my speciality anyway, but the nerves didn't help it, for sure.
For a debut race, I didn't do bad. I finished 63th. Okay, I admit, it isn't that great, but it's fine, I don't have any GC goals here anyway.

Some other team-mates did a bit better. Brian Vandborg got 17th. Geraint Thomas won the stage, just in front of Wilco Kelderman.
I must admit that I was shocked when I took a look at the startlist yesterday. Some great sprinters, like Bos & Sagan, are here. Still, my goal of getting a Top 10 still stands. I really hope that I can do that, although I have to be lucky.

I would like to give you a small round-up about what happened to me in Langkawi up to know.

After my hmm... decent TT, Stage 2 was a mass sprint. Those were expected to be won easily by Sagan. Our team was positioned really bad before the sprint, positioning isn't our strongest point. Anyway, a few km before the finish, we had a small chat, and decided not to go for the sprint. Therefore, I finished 84th. The profile didn't really suit me anyway.

Stage 3 wasn't that different. Our position wasn't that bad, but I didn't feel well, and the position could have been better. When the sprint started, Nicky Sorensen tried to gave me a last pull, but it didn't work. I simply wasn't ready for it that day. Sagan won the stage. I end up 40th.

Stage 4 went better. There was a small hill before the end, and that helped me compared to some other sprinters. The position was good, the team was okay too. I was released a little bit early maybe, but well, I could have done better too. I finished 17th in the end, which is, pretty good. It doesn't give any ranking points though. Surprisingly, Van Dijk(ING) won the stage.

It looks like it got better by the day. Stage 5 was really hilly, with a lot of climbing kms. No mountains though. The best profile that I could wish for. The team mates were good today, but nothing special, I had to come from behind for the sprints. I don't blame them though, it's not the strongest team ever that TCS sent here
Anyway, it went really good. With 1400m to go, I saw Tobias(Ludvigsson) shooting like a rocket past me. I didn't hesitate for a moment and got in his wheel. That turned out to be an amazing decision. I passed a lot of riders, and that did really motivate me, and I was able to stay in the wheel of Ludvigsson.
That's great. I couldn't come out of it though, he was too fast. In the end, he finished third, and I managed to stick to a Top 5! A 5th place for me! The stage-winner was Impey, who surprisingly, was smarter than Sagan(2nd), who charged too late. Peter seemed the fastest guy though, just not smart enough

After the race, I was really, really happy. I didn't know what I could do. I thanked Ludvigsson for his amazing pull. He looked in a bit strange way to me, but right, he said: 'No problem'.

Yesterday's stage, Stage 6, was heavily mountainous. I had a hard time, obviously. Nobody of Trik's did really good. Nicky(Sorensen) managed to get 40th. I got 60th. I'm not proud of it, but I'm happy that I made it before the 'time cut-off'. Fellow young Dutchman Wilco Kelderman won the stage btw. I was really happy, I quite like him.

Sagan is still leading the GC at the moment, while Wilco(Kelderman) is in second place. Me? I'm 56th in the GC. I couldn't care less. We're not going for the GC, but for stage classifications. Tomorrow is hilly. Sorensen could do something, and I will see what I can do. After that, there are some flat stages. Who knows? A Top 10 maybe?

Hey guys, it's me, Henkjan again. The 10 days in Malaysia were certainly tiring. I'm back in the Netherlands now, I deserve a small break I think.

The last stages didn't turn out too good. Of course, there were 2 kinda hilly stages, but I was just chanceless there.
On the other hand, at Stage 9, which wasn't even really hilly, I got a 13th place! That's pretty good in my opinion.
I ended up 69th in the GC. As I said I don't care. No TCS rider in the GC top 20, but the team sent a weak team, so yeah.

Anyway, I'm happy about how my Debut race turned out. I certainly showed myself, I got 5th in a 2.HC race stage!

It'll take a while until I've got racing duties again. It looks like 'Brabantse Pijl' is my next stop, but it can always change a bit.