Steven Kruijswijk has finished the fifth stage of the Tour de France without any time loss. In the difficult, hilly stage through the beautiful scenerey of Brittany, the team captain of Team LottoNL-Jumbo finished in the first peloton that battled for the stage win.

“Today, I constantly had to pay attention and race in the front all the time”, said Kruijswijk, who crashed twice yesterday. “You can’t take the risk of racing in the back, because you never know whether they will accelerate in the front. And if they do, if the group falls apart. The stage was very difficult: it was very narrow with a lot of turning. I’m glad that I finished it in the first peloton together with Primoz, on a difficult uphill finish. I’m feeling good and I was able to move up smoothly on the climbs. That’s a good sign and it gives confidence.”

Sports director Nico Verhoeven was glad that his team had come through the day without any problems. “It was a very tough day. The pace was very high from the start and finals in the Tour are always hectic. I really expected more attacks. But they controlled the breakaway and the group kept together until the end. All in all it was a fine day for us.”