Hello and welcome to the Netherlands for the Dutch National Championships. A mountainous profile lies ahead for the riders, where only the strongest will survive to take the win at the end.



A group of 4 riders formed the day's break, and if given the right amount of freedom could be an outside bet for the win today.

Present in the break, we have:

- Boom (AEG)
- Sinkeldam (EBU)
- Mollema (EB2)
- Minnard (GZL)



Despite having riders in the break, Gazelle and Ebuddy continued to set the pace behind and the escape group was never given more than 2 minutes lead all day.



Attack from Kelderman (PUM) and Timmer (ISO) approaching the top of the first climb showed that there were still those behind unhappy with the situation up front. Dekker (CPL) tried to join them, but was very quickly brought back.



Cresting the climb, the attacking pair caught the break and descended down on the finishing circuit with a gap of 1'34" over the rest of the peleton.



The gap extended to just over 2'14" when we saw a movement from the big favourites for the day. Gesink (EBU), Dekker (CPM), Keizer (AEG), Slagter (HGB) and Olivier (AEG) went clear over the top of the finish circuit and time would tell if they could catch the breakaway in time...





Oh please don't tell me the breakaway are playing cat and mouse with each other...? Their lead is being eaten into as they look at each other and refuse to work on the climb to the line!



And the chasers behind see the benefit in this mess up! The five favourites catch them within moments and Dekker goes straight past and attacks again...



No one goes with Dekker, with Aegon instead having Boom working on the front to try and pull him back. His day in the break has definitely taken something out the legs though.



There is no catching Dekker as he continues to open up his lead and comfortably take the win. The Dutch tricolour will be his own for the new season.



Olivier takes the sprint for 2nd place, ahead of teammate Keizer in 3rd place. With Lars Boom in 4th place as well, this could be seen as a bit of an Aegon fail...

Stage Result

1	Thomas Dekker	Compal - Merida	1h56'34
2	Daan Olivier	Aegon - Lavazza	+ 55
3	Martijn Keizer	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
4	Lars Boom	Aegon - Lavazza	+ 1'07
5	Robert Gesink	eBuddy 2	s.t.
6	Tom Jelte Slagter	Hugo Boss	s.t.
7	Wilco Kelderman	Team Puma - SAP	+ 1'45
8	Albert Timmer	Isostar - Adriatic	s.t.
9	Johnny Hoogerland	Spotify - Haglöfs	+ 1'55
10	Ramon Sinkeldam	eBuddy	+ 2'06
11	Marco Minnard	Gazelle	s.t.
12	Tim Dees	Pendleton's	s.t.
13	Bauke Mollema	eBuddy 2	s.t.
14	Moreno Hofland	Gazelle	+ 3'09
15	Jetse Bol	Team Puma - SAP	+ 4'02
16	Maurits Lammertink	eBuddy	s.t.
17	Rob Ruijgh	eBuddy 2	+ 4'18
18	Ricardo Van der Velde	eBuddy 2	s.t.
19	Floris Gerts	eBuddy 2	+ 5'19
20	Coen Vermeltfoort	Spotify - Haglöfs	+ 7'12
21	Wesley Kreder	eBuddy 2	+ 7'33
22	Boy Van Poppel	Spotify - Haglöfs	+ 7'45
23	Danny Van Poppel	eBuddy	+ 7'55
24	Steven Lammertink	eBuddy	s.t.
25	Jasper Bovenhuis	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
26	Mike Teunissen	Generali - AXA	s.t.
27	Geert Van der Sanden	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
28	Dion Beukeboom	Generali - AXA	+ 8'50
29	Dylan Groenewegen	Aegon - Lavazza	+ 9'51
30	Tom Leezer	eBuddy 2	s.t.
31	Dylan Van Baarle	Team Puma - SAP	+ 10'12
32	Pim Ligthart	Hugo Boss	+ 10'19
33	Wouter Wippert	Jayco'z Cycling Project	+ 10'39

After a fantastic road race yesterday, we hoped for similar fireworks in the ITT. A good number of riders could see themselves as favourites today, and a good performance could see them come away with the National jersey.



Lars Boom (AEG) was the first of the big names to set the fast time out on the course, showing he was carrying good form after this day in the break in the Road Race. 1h17'38" would be the new bench mark as the favourites hit the course.



Defending champion Rick Flens (FNZ) was hoping to continue his time in the Tricolour into next season, but sadly he was not feeling it today... Losing 1'59" to Boom, he would even struggle to make the Top 10!



So poor was the performance from Flens, he was caught on the line by a very impressive Pim Ligthart (HGB)! Hugh Boss man would better Boom by 2", as he posted a time of 1h17'36.



The time's would continue to tumble, as Ligthart's time in the hot seat wouldn't last long. Fresh from his Road Race success, Thomas Dekker (CPM) was hoping to add the TT crown to his 2016 palmares. 34" faster than Ligthart, the best time would be 1h17'02".



With just 3 riders left out on course, a faster time than Dekker would at least guarantee a podium place today. Robert Gesink (EBU) clearly wanted to make up for the mistake in the Road Race, and rode well to be the first rider to break the 1h17'00" barrier. 35" faster than Dekker, he would post a time of 1h16'27".



Dennis van Winden (GEN) was next to come and would also go under the 1h17'00" barrier. However, it wouldn't been seconds seperating him from Gesink, but hundredths of a second! Clocking the same time on the line, the commissaires would give Van Winden the lead but three hundredths of a second!



The times by Gesink and Van Winden had looked to have been unbeatable, but they weren't counting on Martijn Keizer (AEG)! From Aegon RR fail to Aegon TT champion, as the Dutchman destroyed the course to post a time of 1h15'54" on the line. 33" faster than the previous pair, and over 1'08" faster than the Road Race champion Dekker.


Stage Results

1	Martijn Keizer	Aegon - Lavazza	1h15'54
2	Dennis Van Winden	Generali - AXA	+ 33
3	Robert Gesink	eBuddy 2	s.t.
4	Thomas Dekker	Compal - Merida	+ 1'08
5	Pim Ligthart	Hugo Boss	+ 1'42
6	Lars Boom	Aegon - Lavazza	+ 1'44
7	Tim Dees	Pendleton's	+ 2'18
8	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Vontobel	+ 2'25
9	Dylan Van Baarle	Team Puma - SAP	+ 2'29
10	Dion Beukeboom	Generali - AXA	+ 2'54
11	Rick Flens	Fox Sports - BikeNZ Cycling	+ 3'42
12	Steven Lammertink	eBuddy	+ 3'44
13	Niki Terpstra	Gazelle	+ 3'45
14	Wilco Kelderman	Team Puma - SAP	+ 4'36
15	Daan Olivier	Aegon - Lavazza	+ 4'39
16	Bauke Mollema	eBuddy 2	s.t.
17	Ricardo Van der Velde	eBuddy 2	+ 5'03
18	Jetse Bol	Team Puma - SAP	+ 5'22
19	Coen Vermeltfoort	Spotify - Haglöfs	+ 6'07
20	Tom Veelers	Gazelle	+ 6'11
21	Floris Gerts	eBuddy 2	+ 6'33
22	Danny Van Poppel	eBuddy	+ 6'39
23	Remco Broers	eBuddy	+ 6'59
24	Marco Minnard	Gazelle	s.t.
25	Tom Jelte Slagter	Hugo Boss	+ 7'15
26	Mike Teunissen	Generali - AXA	+ 7'17
27	Rob Ruijgh	eBuddy 2	+ 7'20
28	Albert Timmer	Isostar - Adriatic	+ 7'32
29	Moreno Hofland	Gazelle	+ 7'34
30	Tom Leezer	eBuddy 2	+ 7'35
31	Johnny Hoogerland	Spotify - Haglöfs	+ 7'53
32	Wesley Kreder	eBuddy 2	+ 7'54
33	Boy Van Poppel	Spotify - Haglöfs	s.t.
34	Dylan Groenewegen	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
35	Remco Te Brake	eBuddy	+ 8'17
36	Maurits Lammertink	eBuddy	+ 8'30
37	Juan Pablo Wilches	Control Team	+ 8'55
38	Ramon Sinkeldam	eBuddy	+ 9'09
39	Geert Van der Sanden	Aegon - Lavazza	+ 9'11
40	Wouter Wippert	Jayco'z Cycling Project	+ 9'24
41	Jasper Bovenhuis	Aegon - Lavazza	+ 9'26
42	Yoeri Havik	eBuddy	+ 10'04