Floris De Tier ended-up fifth in the nineteenth stage of the Vuelta a España. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s 25-year-old rider could keep up with the leading group during a tough race and competed for the victory in the final. Steven Kruijswijk remains tenth in the general classification.

Initially, De Tier and Juan José Lobato were in a big leading group. After a while Antwan Tolhoek and Koen Bouwman were able to close the gap. “But it required a lot of effort”, Bouwman confessed afterwards. “I didn’t have a great day and couldn’t keep up with the leading group on the last climb. I’m disappointed because the flat final suited me after such a tough stage.”

De Tier could hang on longer. He lost contact with the leading group during the final climb, but returned in the descent. “It was a tough stage”, he stated. “I couldn’t keep up with the leading group until the summit. After I had returned in the group I didn’t have enough power in the sprint. I finished fifth eventually. After a sixth place in the seventh stage I’m happy with that result as a debutant. However, I had hoped for more in today’s stage.”

Sports director Grischa Niermann had mixed feelings afterwards. “It was great that we had four riders in the breakaway, but we wanted to win the stage. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen”, he said. “We tried our best, but we hoped for more than a fifth and tenth place. Despite that, we can be proud of our young riders. At the same time it’s a pity that Stef Clement and Bert-Jan Lindeman crashed in the final. We hope that they’re okay for tomorrow.”