A two day stage race with often unpredictable results. We came into this with moderate expectations.


Saber was leading our line for this flat stage, as we were hoping to get lucky and take the leader's jersey. We were not a part of the break but we did help in chasing them down.



The break were caught just 3.5 km from the line. Saber got himself onto the tail of the furthest forward leadout, that of Novatek for Serebriakov. However, as the line approached, it was clear that Saber wasn't the strongest finisher on the day and could only manage 6th.




Pantano was our designated leader for the mountain stage, with Poels as the only real support.

Dieteren joined the break...



...and picked up third place in the first KOM sprint. The break got caught with 42 km still to go. After that, it was anonymous race for us, as multiple attacks went off from the front, they were brought back, and groups formed, broke up and reformed, on the way to the finish. Pantano sat through it all without having the strength to try to get a gap. He would only manage 14th, and was clearly not in his best form.



Pantano was 15th in the GC on count-back. Adam Yates won the stage and the race.

1	Adam Yates	Ayubowan!	5h53'30
15	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	Philips - Continental	s.t.
56	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	+ 7'46
58	Wout Poels	Philips - Continental	s.t.
83	Jan Dieteren	Philips - Continental	+ 10'55
103	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips - Continental	+ 13'12
111	Lahcen Saber	Philips - Continental	+ 13'49
143	Patrick Müller	Philips - Continental	+ 18'27
145	Lotto Petrus	Philips - Continental	s.t.

We entered this race with moderate expectations and go away with a very small return. The sprint stage was always going to be a lottery but Pantano was disappointing on stage 2. Our first blip in March, but it had to happen somewhere.

Henao led the team in his home race. We had brought Krieger along for the two sprint stages.


We did not join the break and did not bother chasing. The break were caught with just 200 meters left after a messy sprint with no leadouts. Krieger finished 11th.


The first of the mountain stages. Per tried to join the break but he was not allowed to. We managed to keep in the front group behind the break all through. Pluchkin and Denifl attacked with 4.5 km to go, with Henao in a five man chase group.



Henao's group reduced to three riders with 1.5 km to go, with four riders out in front, singly. And that's how it ended, except for Henao catching up to Uran who was ahead of him at the line. Our captain finished 5th on the stage and moved up to 5th in the GC.




Jung joined the early break but he only lasted till the second climb. A couple of riders attacked from the pack and joined the break in the second half of the race. The first attack from the contenders came with 13 km left, with Roglic getting away. Mai was dropped, but Henao followed another attack with Pluchkin on his tail.



He already had more than a minute to the pack with 3 km to go. Henao then went on to drop Pluchkin, going on to finish 4th on the stage, and move up to 3rd in the GC.




A day on the flat to follow two tough days of climbing. Krieger was no longer in the race after having missed the time limit on stage 2. We had no one in the break. There was a decisive split in the pack with 20 km to go, and a lot of the GC contenders found themselves on the wrong side of it. Henao was in the front group. The break were caught 2 km from the line and a sprint decided the win.


No one joined the break once again. Attacks started from stronger climbers from a long way out, as they looked to gain some time on the competition. It was evident that Henao wasn't having his best day as he was barely seen at the front of any group that he was riding in. He was dropped on the second last climb before the climb to the finish, and never recovered. He lost time to more riders before the finish, crossing the line in 12th, losing more than 8 minutes. He dropped to 7th in the GC.


Ruijgh tried to get into the break but could not get away. Attacks started from the pack on the final. Henao did not react initially, riding at his own pace. Soon though, he had started catching up with the attackers and was now going past them on the climb. He was 36" down at the top of the climb to Duarte and Pluchkin, who were in front. Another group of three were ahead also. A couple of chasing groups merged on the descent and Henao finished in a group of 12 riders. He was 8th. He moved up to 5th in the GC.

1	Aleksandr Pluchkin	Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff	26h02'14
5	Sergio Luis Henao Montoya	Philips - Continental	+ 11'09
58	Christoph Mai	Philips - Continental	+ 1h09'37
59	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	+ 1h10'29
95	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 2h00'16
127	Ha Jeon Jung	Philips - Continental	+ 3h09'00

Only five riders finished the race for us. Henao finished 6th in the Points standings and 10th in the KOM race.

We were hoping for a Top 5 finish in this race as the minimum, and that is what we achieved. It was straight-forward though. It looked like Henao would be a contender for the podium after stage 3, but after a bad day on stage 5, even a Top 5 looked to have slipped away. In the end, he did enough on the final stage to claw back to 5th in the GC. Not much to speak of in terms of the others, but that was expected. Our decent run in March continues.

Not a lot of expectations from this race, given how Ras Tailteann went.


Van Zandbeek was our best performer in the opening Prologue, claiming 31st place, 18 seconds down on the best time.


We did not put any rider into the break. Te Brake found the perfect leadout, getting onto Cavendish's wheel but he faded dramatically in the final couple of hundred meters.


No breakaway appearance once again. Te Brake wasn't in a good position this time, and had to do a lot of the sprinting in the wind. He managed 11th.


Once again, it was only Van Zandbeek who flew our flag in the ITT. He finished 24th, more than 2 minutes down.


No breakaway appearance again. Te Brake found himself at the back end of the fastest leadout, so he needed to make up some ground to get a good finish. He achieved his best result of the race on this stage, 8th place.

1	Jerome Coppel	Carrefour - ESPN	12h53'10
25	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips - Continental	+ 2'29
33	Lotto Petrus	Philips - Continental	+ 2'50
40	Wout Poels	Philips - Continental	+ 3'25
79	Remco Te Brake	Philips - Continental	+ 5'43
101	Alexander Krieger	Philips - Continental	+ 7'14
145	Ha Jeon Jung	Philips - Continental	+ 11'01

Much like we predicted, it was only Van Zandbeek picking up GC points in this race, with Te Brake adding a single point from 3 sprint stages. A race to forget.

Ok, maybe a Top 50 expectation was a little too pessimistic for this race, but we were expecting Saber to have a tough time making an impact in this race.

Without a rider in the break, we settled in to protect Saber for as long as possible, and to hope that Per could have a good outing too. Unfortunately, Saber missed the first big move itself, which involved 20 riders. As the race went on, the break got caught, and riders lost touch with the front group and started getting caught by the next one.

With around 25 km to go, it looked like Saber started making his way up the field, leaving the peloton behind. Not much of note happened for us going ahead, with Saber slowly making up positions. Up ahead, it was business as usual with Bewley taking the win. Saber looked strong at the finish, winning the sprint from his group to finish 14th.

1	Sam Bewley	Moser - Sygic	5h27'34
14	Lahcen Saber	Philips - Continental	+ 7'17
61	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 14'52
85	Patrick Müller	Philips - Continental	+ 20'08
98	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	+ 23'13

A better result than expected for Saber but we did not get any depth scoring. Saber would probably have been in a good position to score higher if he didn't miss the first move.

With both Rui Costa and Navardauskas in the line-up, we were hoping that we could get them both into the Top 10 in this race. this was a race we had ear-marked as a high scoring one when we finalized our schedule.


The Prologue on the opening was all about getting into a good position from where to attack on the hilly stage 3. Both Navardauskas and Rui performed as expected, finishing 12th and 27th, respectively, losing 10 and 12 seconds.


We did not have a rider in the break, which was caught before the small incline before the finish. Kwiatkowski kicked off the attack, with Navardauskas latching on to the counter-attackers.



He stayed in touch till the final sprint, where he finished 4th, moving up to the same position in the GC as well.


This was the stage we were targeting all along to try to get our riders into a good GC posiiton. Navardauskas was already doing better than expected, and we were hoping to setup Rui in the hill. After the break was caught, there were a few early atatcks on the hill which were unsuccessful. Four riders eventually got away and we missed the move. The peloton lost a huge 1'42" seconds to the front group, meaning a drop in position for Navardauskas out of the Top 5. Costa finished 7th on the stage but it was a mere consolation.


Another short TT, this time an epilogue and we were expecting similar to what happened on the first stage. And that's exactly what happened. Navardauskas finished 13th, with Costa 18th, losing 10 and 11 seconds respectively.

1	Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	8h02'44
7	Ramunas Navardauskas	Philips - Continental	+ 1'05
14	Rui Costa	Philips - Continental	+ 1'18
54	Jan Dieteren	Philips - Continental	+ 2'10
78	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	+ 4'29
108	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	Philips - Continental	+ 6'38
129	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	+ 8'56

We were hoping for two Top 10s but end up with 7th and 14th. Navardauskas had a Top 5 spot within his reach but Stage 3 messed everything up. Dieteren added some minor points from the U25s, with some more points picked up from stage results. We were hoping for a little more from this race however.

Cobbles this season will always be a lottery and this race was one we didn't really have high hopes about.

Not much to write about this race really. We didn't join the break and Saber was dropped from the pack with two cobbled sectors left when the specialists picked up the pace. We never recovered from there and we came back from this race empty-handed.

1	Geraint Thomas	Podium Ambition	4h25'37
34	Lahcen Saber	Philips - Continental	+ 4'26
63	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 8'46
79	Patrick Müller	Philips - Continental	+ 12'40
101	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	+ 17'49
109	Remco Te Brake	Philips - Continental	+ 23'46

Nothing much to say for this race except that it was a bad day on the road for the team. March started off brightly but just faded away at the end.

All in for Saber on this mostly flat profile. Te Brake and Krieger can hopefully improve on their performances so far and put our leader into a good sprinting position.

Our second race in C2 with Dieteren as our leader once again. He didn't have a very good outing last time around, so we hope he can do better here. Jaoa Costa is here to help him on the hills.

A flat rated race, but with a lot of elevation changes which is sure to have an effect on some of the sprinters. We have brought Navardauskas here to supplant Saber just for this reason, and hope the pair of them can pull off a good result.

We hope the short TT is not too much of a hindrance to Henao, who should be among the Top 5 or better climbers in this race. The full mountain train is here in support of our leader. Krieger is here for the flat stage 1.

Races like these are always a lottery, and Saber has been consistent, but not spectacular so far in the sprints. We're hoping for a Top 10 placing here at the minimum but would love to see Saber get into another Top 5.

Historically, this race has never favoured the pure sprinters, with those with abilities to go over climbs getting the upper hand. For this reason, we decided to bring Navardauskas as or only sprinting option for this one. Let's see how this gamble plays out.

For a change, we were more sure about where to expect Saber to finish in a race. After his 5th place in the Down Under Classic, we were hoping for a repeat of the same in this race.

We were not able to send a rider into the break. Thus, we concentrated on protecting Saber. We didn't really participate in the chase but ensured we stayed mostly near the front of the pack. After a couple of late attackers joined the break, all of them were brought back with 6 km to go. Saber found himself isolated when the trains formed, having no one to latch onto for slipstream. He found himself in a bad position through the final turn and lost ground going into the final kilometer. He made up some ground in the final hundred to make it into the Top 10, 10th place in fact, and meet our expectations.



Ivano Lo Cicero won the race.

1	Ivano Lo Cicero	Carrefour - ESPN	3h49'41
10	Lahcen Saber	Philips - Continental	s.t.
37	Remco Te Brake	Philips - Continental	s.t.
55	David Per	Philips - Continental	s.t.
57	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips - Continental	s.t.
89	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	s.t.
142	Lotto Petrus	Philips - Continental	s.t.
154	Alexander Krieger	Philips - Continental	s.t.
176	Patrick Müller	Philips - Continental	s.t.

Saber did what was expected of him and perhaps would've done better if he did not have problems on the final turn before the finish. The worrying part is our inability to form a sprint train once again, and with both our of our secondary sprinters not able to get even minor points for the umpteenth time this season. Krieger ended up a comically low 154th, which is beyond explanation to some extent. Overall, a decent start to April but we still need to improve if we want to achieve our season goals!

With Dieteren our designated leader in this race, and going by how he has performed so far this season, we were treating this race almost as a write-off, with any points to be considered as good points.

We did the smart thing of putting a rider into the break. Per was that guy, with Poels also having tried and failed to do the same earlier.



Per was still taking hard turns at the front with 30 km to go and with the peloton now closing in fast. This continued even with 20 km remaining. 5 km later, Per and Grossschartner were the two from the break at the front with the others not able to follow. They were eventually caught by the pair of Ponzi and Lutsenko with less than 10 km to go, but neither refused to drop off just yet.



Even with 4 km to go, and still with 2 km to go, the pair of Per and Grossschartner still held on to the pair of race favourites' wheel, even after a gruelling day out in the break. Grossschartner was distanced and swallowed up by the hard charging pack with less than a kilometer to go. Per was caught by the larger group with 500 meters to go and it looked to be heading towards a minor points finish for our rider at this point.



However, in a super-human effort in the final sprint, Per snatched back a couple of positions that he had lost in the run-in and ended a fantastic 5th!


(Still 7th in this picture)

Simone Ponzi won the race.

1	Simone Ponzi	Hugo Boss	4h30'24
5	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 58
58	Jan Dieteren	Philips - Continental	+ 3'55
71	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	+ 4'17
97	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	+ 4'50
132	Christoph Mai	Philips - Continental	+ 8'50
137	Wout Poels	Philips - Continental	+ 9'08
153	Ha Jeon Jung	Philips - Continental	+ 10'26
174	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	+ 12'02

This was a result beyond our wildest dreams as Per showed immense determination to not just hang on, but also out-sprint riders at the end. Dieteren failed to provide any spark, while the support staff were just not good enough in this hard race but our Slovenian Superman pulled out a masterclass and made up for it, and then some!

Another race with Dieteren as our leader, and here he was a Top 10 contender to start off with.

Hofstede tried to get into the break but the move was unsuccessful. We reverted to staying in the pack and trying to put Dieteren into a good position. We were never at the front chasing the lone break but stayed away from the splits when they started in the pack. The attacks from the favourites started with 5 km to go but Dieteren, or anyone else from our team, was anywhere to be seen at the front. It turned out to be a limp race for us, as Dieteren could only manage 52nd, with Costa and Ruijgh finishing better.

Filippo Rocchetti won the race from the break.

1	Filippo Rocchetti	Campari - Super Dry	5h09'06
43	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	s.t.
44	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	s.t.
52	Jan Dieteren	Philips - Continental	s.t.
115	Jonas Bokeloh	Philips - Continental	s.t.
116	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	s.t.
118	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	s.t.
126	Patrick Müller	Philips - Continental	+ 11'09
166	Riccardo Minali	Philips - Continental	+ 19'40

A horrible outing on the hills of the Continental division, the same places where Wyss and Costa were performing miracles last season. Dieteren has been wasted investment so far. Perhaps Costa and Ruijgh would even have got into point-scoring positions without having to have supported Dieteren!

A lot of riders tried to get into the early break, but we had no one in that group and we didn't get a rider into the eventual break of the day. We left the chasing to other teams. With 14 km left and the break just about to be caught, there was huge split in the pack, and Krieger was caught on the wrong side of it. Two more riders managed to get away from the peloton inside the final 10 kilometers but they were reeled in with 2 km to go. Saber found himself a long way back as the sprinters lined up for the finale. Navardauskas was unfortunately not able to help out his leader here. Saber was never in the sprint picture and had to settle for a lowly 20th place. Navardauskas picked up some more points for 28th.

Bryan Coquard won the race.

1	Bryan Coquard	Festina - Dexia	5h09'17
20	Lahcen Saber	Philips - Continental	s.t.
28	Ramunas Navardauskas	Philips - Continental	s.t.
74	Ha Jeon Jung	Philips - Continental	s.t.
76	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips - Continental	s.t.
100	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 4'55
142	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	s.t.
143	Lotto Petrus	Philips - Continental	s.t.
151	Alexander Krieger	Philips - Continental	s.t.

No repeat of the Giro sprint heroics by Saber, but in truth that was never likely with the startlist. Krieger being inattentive didn't help as that could've meant some more points. We were hoping for more from this race and come back disappointed.

Any race with Henao in it is a race where we expect to be competitive. However, the presence of the ITT on Stage 2 made us question how high he could actually finish in this race.


The first stage was a short flat profile, which meant Krieger had an opportunity to test his legs. We didn't have a rider in the break and were content in letting the stronger teams in chasing. Krieger latched on to the back of the Xero train after the break was caught. He stayed on Van der Sande's wheel for quite some time and then went on his own after he lost touch. He grabbed 3rd place on the line, best sprint result for the season.




As expected, Henao lost a lot of time in the ITT, 47 seconds to be exact, and this meant he had all to do on the last stage. Krieger too, had no hope of defending his 3rd place in the GC, with an even slower time.


Once again, no one in the break as we concentrated on getting Henao into the best possible position at the end of the stage. With under 6 km to go, we still had Henao and Pantano in the second group of 19 on the road, with the break already caught. Up ahead, Novak and Kudus had pulled a Repsol double team attack, and sped away. Henao took over the chase with 4 km to go, in an attempt to bridge the gap.



Pantano couldn't hang on to the pace and was dropped form the group but Henao sped away in chase of the leading duo. Henao caught up to the Repsol duo with a kilometer to go, but they were also joined by Shikai and Uran. The next group was still more than half a minute behind. Henao did not have the legs to launch another acceleration and was no macth for Shikai and Uran in the sprint, but beat the tired Repsol duo to clinch 3rd place on the stage.



He moved up to 5th in the GC after a great performance on this stage.

Jakub Novak was the surprising winner in a very close GC.

1	Jakub Novak	Repsol - Netflix	6h10'45
5	Sergio Luis Henao Montoya	Philips - Continental	+ 27
20	Jarlinson Pantano Gómez	Philips - Continental	+ 3'33
49	Christoph Mai	Philips - Continental	+ 7'29
58	Wout Poels	Philips - Continental	+ 8'20
124	Patrick Müller	Philips - Continental	+ 25'57
127	Alexander Krieger	Philips - Continental	+ 25'58

A great effort from Henao in the end to move into a Top 5 GC position. If only he had something in reserve in the final kilometer to launch another attack! Pantano picked up some points for 20th, but he keeps punching below his weight. A better performance than what we were fearing the ITT would cause, so we can't really be too unhappy about missing out on a possible podium. Definitely a lift to our bad month so far.

Despite the ultra-strong startlist, we were hoping Rui Costa could mix it up with the big guns and come away with another good result like he did in Pais Vasco. Navardauskas was also here to try to help his leader, and also to make an impression himself.


The Prologue turned out to be disappointing with Costa only managing 20th and Navardauskas down in a lowly 50th place. Not the start that we were hoping for!


Hofstede tried to join the break but was unsuccessful. We stayed in the pack but neither Costa nor Navardauskas could make an impact in the closing stages. Costa finished with the first big group, while Navardauskas was further behind, both riding quite anonymously.


Pretty much the same story as the last stage with neither Costa nor Navardauskas nor anyone else from the team could make a mark, riding passively to the finish.

Ponzi dominated the hills to win the race.

1	Simone Ponzi	Hugo Boss	8h49'05
21	Rui Costa	Philips - Continental	+ 4'01
41	Ramunas Navardauskas	Philips - Continental	+ 5'39
60	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	+ 7'54
121	Patrick Müller	Philips - Continental	+ 14'54
139	Ha Jeon Jung	Philips - Continental	+ 19'57
143	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 20'28
169	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	+ 31'16
177	Lotto Petrus	Philips - Continental	+ 37'04

Quite disappointing that 21st and 41st are the only points-scoring finishes that we came away from this race! We were hoping for a better show and hope to bounce back from this result.

Petrus joined the break after an earlier breakaway group failed to stay clear.



There were a couple of attacks late on but they failed to catch the break. The break was caught near the 10 km mark. As the sprinters got themselves organized, Saber found himself a long way back. As the final kilometers went by, he slowly started moving up. With 2 km to go, he had latched himself to the end of the Podium Ambition train, but still with some way to go to get into a satisfactory position. Saber found himself in the Top 10 posiitons a the final leadouts dropped off. His final surge was powerful enough to gain further places and he crossed the line in 5th place.



John Degenkolb won the race.

1	John Degenkolb	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	4h55'32
5	Lahcen Saber	Philips - Continental	s.t.
62	Remco Te Brake	Philips - Continental	s.t.
91	David Per	Philips - Continental	s.t.
102	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips - Continental	s.t.
154	Alexander Krieger	Philips - Continental	s.t.
156	Lotto Petrus	Philips - Continental	s.t.
185	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	s.t.
186	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	s.t.

Another excellent ride from Saber, getting a Top 5 in a very strong sprinter field. After failing with our, albeit nearly impossible, goal in the Tour de Pologne, this 5th place means we achieve our first goal of the season. No depth points once again, as our backup sprinters are way off the pace once again, no improvements there. Overall, we're quite happy with the result.

Home race and one we couldn't miss despite not really having the riders to challenge at the top. We managed to get two riders into the points scoring positions last year as a CT team and were hoping for something similar.


No the greatest opening stage with Navardauskas as our best at 20th. Van Zandbeek had a bad day, losing well over a minute.


No breakaways for nearly half the stage and we didn't get a rider into it. We were nowhere in contention when the time for the final sprint came about. Krieger hustled in the final couple of hundred meters to manage 9th place on the stage.


No breakaway appearance yet again. Van Zandbeek was dropped from the pack in the lead up to the finish, which more or less took him out of contention for points-scoring in this race. Krieger was better positioned in the sprint this time, latching on to Vantomme's wheel behind the Netia train. He would finish well, claiming 4th, one of his better results all year!




We were not close to favourites for the all important TTT but were hoping for a solid mid-table finish to leave the likes of Navardaauskas and Per with a chance to meet our goals. We only managed 14th on the stage, 51 seconds down on the best time, which Navardauskas out of the points scoring positions.




No breakaway appearance, Krieger not strong enough to challenge for the win, and Navardauskas dropped in the run-in meant our hopes of getting from this race were dashed on this stage. Not much to look forward to for us heading into the last stage.


Even worse result than the Prologue with Navardauskas being our best at 34th.

1	Marlen Zmorka	Team Reddit	10h38'11
58	Ramunas Navardauskas	Philips - Continental	+ 4'57
106	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 8'08
120	Lotto Petrus	Philips - Continental	+ 8'30
126	Alexander Krieger	Philips - Continental	+ 9'00
160	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips - Continental	+ 13'44
166	Wout Poels	Philips - Continental	+ 14'29
173	Patrick Müller	Philips - Continental	+ 16'35
175	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	+ 17'01

A huge disappointment for the team in our home race, compounded by the high of our over-achievement last season. We need to forget about this result fast and get on with the next races.

Back-to-back home races and we were hoping for something better from the team this time around.

We tried hard to get a rider into the break, but were not able to. We didn't feature much at the front of the pack. The high pace and crosswinds led to Te Brake being dropped, meaning Saber would be without support in the final sprint. Four riders were clear inside the final 10 kilometers, but the peloton brought them back. Saber was at the front and in a good position at this time.



Hermans attacked with 5.5 km left. The peloton was chasing but the re-organization had taken Saber a long way back in the pack. Hermans was not caught, and as hard as Saber tried he could not get into the leading positions, and finished a disappointing 16th.

1	Ben Hermans	Generali - EDF	4h25'08
16	Lahcen Saber	Philips - Continental	+ 30
84	Remco Te Brake	Philips - Continental	+ 5'48
97	David Per	Philips - Continental	s.t.
134	Lotto Petrus	Philips - Continental	s.t.
145	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	s.t.
149	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	s.t.

Another disappointing result on home ground! Our luck with races in the Netherlands don't seem to be taking an upward curve. Not a good result with how our season's going, and the need to score points.

With Navardauskas as the designated leader and Dieteren and Van Zandbeek our best support, we were not hopeful of a favourable result in this race. With news filtering through of our poor result in Veenendaal, the mood in the camp was quite sombre.

Ruijgh tried to join the break but wasn't allowed to. The attacks from the pack started with under 40 km to go, with the break's lead down to within 2 minutes. Only one attacker, Ignatiev, was successful in breaking free and joining the breakaway. The break was caught with 8 km to go and a big group of more than a hundred riders were dropped, including Dieteren. A couple of attacks followed inside the final 7 km, but they were brought back with 2 km remaining. Navardauskas found himself in the wind at this early stage, which isn't ideal when planning to launch a sprint.



Despite this, Navardauskas led the way into the final corner.



He was neck and neck with Roelandts as they hit the steep ramp to the finish.



He just didn't have enough in his legs to hold on, and had to settle for 2nd behind Roelandts. A brilliant result nonetheless.

1	Jurgen Roelandts	Repsol - Netflix	3h55'57
2	Ramunas Navardauskas	Philips - Continental	s.t.
72	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips - Continental	+ 1'47
110	Jan Dieteren	Philips - Continental	s.t.
128	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	s.t.
152	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	s.t.
159	Ha Jeon Jung	Philips - Continental	s.t.

A stunning result in a race where we were not expecting to be in contention for the win. Navardauskas has not been in the best of form this season, but pulled off a much needed result. Hopefully, this is the turning point of his season. We need to continue having such results regularly if we are to significantly move up the table and away from relegation danger.