Sep Vanmarcke wins the Ster ZLM Toer
LottoNL-Jumbo’s Sep Vanmarcke won the Ster ZLM Toer today in Boxtel, the Netherlands. He placed third in the last stage to clinch the overall title. His biggest competitor Sean De Bie (Lotto-Soudal) won an intermediate sprint and moved within two seconds of Vanmarcke. He failed to gain more time in the day, closed with a stage victory for Wim Stroetinga (Parkhotel Valkenburg).
"This victory is very important,” Vanmarcke said. “This is the first ever stage race victory for me.
"It was a very exciting race, we did not know exactly where the intermediate sprint was and then De Bie won. He grabbed three seconds back and I became a bit scared. For the final intermediate sprint, I was sitting on the wheel of De Bie ready, but the breakaway took the seconds.”
"We've had two races in one today,” said Sport director Nico Verhoeven. “Our plan was to get the stage win and the overall. In the sprint we noticed that we were not 100% ready for stage victory and Dylan Groenewegen finished second.
"A race in the Netherlands is always important for our team. And if you win the prologue with Van Emden, two stages and the points jersey with Groenewegen, the team ranking and the overall title -- you're obviously pleased. With Lotto-Soudal and Etixx, arrived with strong teams for the sprints, so this result is more than we dared to dream. "
Vanmarcke added, “It is unfortunate that Dylan was second, but we agreed that overall victory was the most important, and we succeeded."
Maarten Tjallingii
Maarten Tjallinigii celebrated his final day as a professional with today’s stage. "I’m happy for the wins, but at the same time, I know that my career is over. I do not know how to handle this. In the coming hours and days, I’ll realise it, I guess.
"I will miss my team-mates a lot. This team is more than just a team, we have grown closer together and give everything for each other.”
"Maarten has a big work spirit,” Verhoeven explained. “A no-nonsense rider. Maarten is the first to raise his hand if you need some work done. He did a tremendous job in his last race”.
