Boom and Lammertink place top-ten in Suisse prologue
Lars Boom time trialled to seventh place in the prologue of the Tour de Suisse today in Cham. LottoNL-Jumbo team-mate Steven Lammertink placed ninth over the six-kilometre opener won by Rohan Dennis.
“Two riders in the top-ten, that is a good result,” Sports Director Addy Engels said. “Lars has shown before he is capable of results like this. It’s nice today that he proved he’s in good form. I think this is the first time on WorldTour level that Steven a performance like this. That is also good.”
The Team LottoNL-Jumbo squad travelled to Switzerland with different goals in mind.
“We have an interesting team riding here. The time trial is a goal. Today there was chance for success, and we’ll have one again in the upcoming time trial. Besides that, we have Juan Jose Lobato for the sprints. Also, we brought men who will get the freedom to be in the breakaway and score a win by doing that.”
Steven Kruijswijk will likely not aim for the overall classification after pulling out of the Giro d’Italia early last month.
“We have to see how good he is and how well he feels. We are not going to lose time, but we do not have any specific goals for the GC. If Steven rides well, we can always see if we make the GC a goal.”
Tomorrow’s stage covers four local circuits of 40 kilometres each around Cham.
“It contains a tricky climb. It could be something for the sprinters who are able to survive a climb, but it may also be a chance for the GC riders to attack the first time. Most likely, a select group of riders will sprint for the win tomorrow.”
