Netherland's National Championships will again feature a hilly road race. It has been a tight decision in the voting (8 votes for hill, 7 for flat), so the puncheurs were happy with the actual outcome for sure.
Defending road champion Schreurs is amongst the favorites again, just like his teammate Dekker (both Vueling). As for those rather small teams, there's also van der Hugenhaben (BPost), Hoogerland (Swedbank) or Reus (La Vie).
The biggest pressure is on Project 1t4i though: lining up with two squads (led by Gesink and Posthuma), the team will at least aim for one title after taking the TT with Posthuma last year.. Rothaus (Boom) and TomTom (Elijzen) could try to support Project during the road race.
5 riders went clear early - with one more escapee (Havik) jumping behind to make it a 6-men-breakaway. They ain't given an easy time though, as their advantage is held to 1'37" halfway through the race:
So obviously Project 1t4i and Rothaus as those teams under pressure to control the break, which they do to this point..
The pace back in the peloton - led by Project 1t4i - is quite high and the breakaway's gap is down to a minute with now 20km to go. A few first serious attacks make for an even more challenging race now:
gave it a go, but struggle to open up a notable gap on the peloton (36 riders remaining)!
And so it's an empty-handed effort: all escapees/attackers - except of Maaskant - are swallowed by the bunch 12km before finish!
Maaskant leading by 44" though: will he fool the peloton with this late solo-effort?
Too early to say. 10km to go and the big guns launch their first moves:
Dekker (Vueling) goes first!
Hoogerland (Swedbank) and Gesink (Project) try to jump behind a few moments later..
Those moves look quite promising, as all three riders established a gap on the bunch.
Dekker flies past Maaskant 5km before finish! Gesink 16" in arrears..
..and he drops Hoogerland easily, trying to bridge across this gap with another acceleration!
The situation prior to the uphill finish: Dekker with a small lead over Gesink, while Hoogerland doesn't look like he will counter Gesink's attack.
A new chasing group is built, but already a minute down on Dekker. Too late?
van der Hugenhaben (Bpost)
Weening (Gazelle)
Reus (La Vie)
Schreurs (Vueling)
are those four trying to join the mix for the win. With less than 2km to go, this is unlikely to happen though. Defending champion Schreurs apparently won't repeat his victory..
In the meantime, Gesink indeed managed to catch up to Dekker! This will be a thrilling finish:
1.3km to go and they kick off the sprint head-to-head!
32" in arrears: Hugenhaben, Hoogerland, Schreurs
1'06": Weening, Reus, Maaskant
Dekker now in trouble to stay with Gesink! A steep finish and Gesink plays his strengths..
..to grab the victory! A dominating sprint from Gesink, who will be happy to finish a rather disappointing season with the Dutch Road title.
Dekker with a strong move 10km before finish, but no chance against the new champion in this sprint..
36" later, Hugenhaben outsprints Schreurs to complete the podium. Hoogerland 5th.
Weening, Reus, Boom, Hofland and Kruijswijk round up the Top-10, so Maaskant had nothing left to show.
The 48km flat timetrial is expected to be very close race, with several of the top-favorites being able to perform on equal strength:
Defending champion Posthuma and Gesink (Project) with a nice chance to complete the double for their team. Last year's runner-up Keizer (Rothaus), Reus (La Vie), Dekker (Vueling) or Flens (Bpost) will fancy their chances, too.
We're looking at the second split (half-time) first:
Flens is the first of the late starters. He misses out on the provisional lead though, trailing by 2 seconds on Boom (Rothaus) and Westra (Gazelle)!
Defending TT-champion Posthuma though takes the provisional lead at the split, beating Boom by 12 seconds. Will he be in the mix for the victory again?
If he will, Reus will definitely be there as well: 1 second faster than Posthuma halfway through the parcours!
Dekker looked strong in the road race and he's likely to be in the mix here, too:
provisional third at the split, 8 seconds down on Reus!
This is looking as close as the Dutch TT was last year, where the Top-4 all finished within 10 seconds!
Gesink on the way to complete the double? New provisional best time at the split, just a second faster than Reus though..
And here's the last one on the road: top-favorite Keizer with the clear mission to grab the NC shirt today.
And wow, he's going very strong! Keizer crushes the competition at the split, being 30 seconds faster than Gesink!
If there wasn't Keizer performing on the highest level, we probably would have seen a tight race today..
..but for guys like Reus, it's likely to be a battle for the podium only:
Reus finishes with the same time as Posthuma, but slightly slower anyway!
Also Dekker misses out on the provisional best time at the finish:
+ 14" on Posthuma, but beating names like Boom, Westra and Flens!
Here comes Gesink.. will he beat his teammate at least?
Yap, he does. But Posthuma had a strong second half today, as Gesink takes the provisional lead by 2 seconds only.
While it's still a nice 2-3 for Project 1t4i, there's has been one dominating rider today:
Keizer simply crushed it and almost gains a minute on Gesink on this 48km parcours! What a ride.
Netherland's National Championships will again feature a hilly road race. It has been a tight decision in the voting (8 votes for hill, 7 for flat), so the puncheurs were happy with the actual outcome for sure.
