Team LottoNL-Jumbo keeps improving in Tour de Pologne
Tom Van Asbroeck placed sixth in the fourth stage of the Tour de Pologne on Wednesday. Three had escaped, LottoNL-Jumbo's rider finished third in the bunch sprint in Nowy Sacz. Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff – Saxo Bank) won.
“We were expecting that is was going to end up in a sprint between a big group of riders," sports director, Jan Boven said after the stage. “Dennis van Winden should've been in that kick, and it was a challenge for Tom Van Asbroeck to survive the climbs. They were both able to maintain their positions in that group, so we could make a plan.
"We didn’t have the riders to help with the chase of the peloton so we had to wait. We keep improving our team performance, on the other hand. Bram Tankink took the initiative like Rick Flens did yesterday and Tom was able to do the bunch sprint yet another time.”
Team’s captain
“I was feeling good today,” Bram Tankink added. “That's why I took the initiative as the team’s captain. It started to rain in the end so it was necessary to stay in front of the bunch. I tried to protect our sprinters. That went well, but we weren’t able to catch the breakaway, unfortunately. We couldn’t do anything else but pass time, see what happened and keep our sprinters in a safe position.”
It’s going to be another hard one on Thursday. “It’s a very hilly profile," Boven added. “The stage final will be tough too. We want to ride a little bit more attentive than we did today. It might be a nice day for Bert-Jan Lindeman, George Bennett and Bram Tankink possibly.”
