Moreno Hofland placed tenth in the penultimate stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s sprinter finished in the exciting stage finale sixth of a bunch sprint. Four riders kept out of the clutches of the peloton in Cepagatti. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) won the day and took the overall lead.

A strong breakaway had a gap over the peloton in the final part of the penultimate stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico. Overall riders and riders who excel in the sprint classics gave it all for their chances. “That wasn’t a great situation for us,” sports director Addy Engels said after the race. “We knew that those riders were able to hold their advantage. We decided what the order of riders was going to be in the sprint lead-out. With four kilometres to go, everyone had to be in the right position. The perfect moment to take the initiative is something the riders have to feel themselves, afterwards.”

Over powered

The Team LottoNL-Jumbo riders chose to take the lead of the peloton a little earlier than they wanted in the end. “We still had to close the gap,” Tom Van Asbroeck said. “When we took the hammer in our hands, we did double work, actually. We wanted to prepare the sprint, but you want to sprint for first place, of course. We gave the best we had, but were over powered. The leading group was too strong.”

“It’s a good sign that everyone was in the right position in time,” Engels added. “They were ready to take the initiative and did that as well. Moreno’s sixth place in the bunch sprint isn’t bad at all, in the end. It was a hard stage finale. The most positive thing about this race is that they were able to stay together with a big group of riders. That’s something the team developed this week.”

Experience

Just before the peloton had to climb the final uphill, Primoz Roglic crashed softly. “It was a crash without any damage, but he did lose some time,” Engels added. Roglic lost his chances in the general classification when the organisation decided to cancel stage 5 and had no result to defend during the closing time trial anymore. “It’s still going to be an interesting day for him tomorrow. He has to give it all in that time trial. He doesn’t have much experience in time trials, so this is a chance to gain some.”