Moreno Hofland finished 12th in the first stage of the Tour de Romandie this afternoon. The organiser shortened the stage due to snow, which increased the chances for Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s sprinter. It did not happen, however, and Marcel Kittel (Etixx - Quick Step) took the victory.

Without the hard starting climbs, the riders faced only 100.5 kilometres. “This is a missed chance,” Sports Director Frans Maassen said. “He was on his own in the final, but he had to blame himself. This should have ended up better.”

Hofland end the day “fed up” with his 12^th place. “These are opportunities for me,” he added. “It was a tough stage, not many top sprinters are competing in this race and I previewed the final kilometres beforehand. I made a mistake. I chose the right side instead of following Jos van Emden. I was blocked in and ended up in bad position. This was my first sprint in a while and it didn’t go automatically for me. I made the wrong choice and I’m really fed up with that.”

Man-against-man tomorrow

Wilco Kelderman will be the main gun for Team LottoNL-Jumbo on Thursday, when the second stage of the Tour de Romandie finishes uphill. “I think that Wilco is ready for tomorrow,” Maassen continued. “He climbed strongly in yesterday’s prologue. It’s going to be a man-against-man-fight tomorrow and I think that an early breakaway won’t have any chance to make it to the finish ahead of the favourites.”