Team LottoNL-Jumbo won the points jersey, the youth jersey and the team classification at Tour du Poitou Charentes this week. In the last stage, Tom Asbroeck sprinted to sixth. The sprint in the streets of Poitiers was won by the Italian Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani) ahead of Ben Swift (Team Sky) and Romain Feillu (Auber 93). Sylvain Chavanel won the general classification and Wilco Kelderman finished second overall.

In the last stage, between Thouars and Poitiers, a couple of escapes went free but the bunch with 40 men prepared for the sprint behind.

"The lead out was not perfect, Van Asbroeck got stuck in the front and couldn’t sprint for the victory,” Sports Director Frans Maassen.

It was the third time Van Asbroeck sprinted to a finish in the top six, counting his stage win in the second stage. His good results earned him the points jersey.

Wilco Kelderman

Wilco Kelderman finished second in the GC behind the experienced Sylvain Chavanel. The GC was mainly settled in the time trial in the fourth stage, where Kelderman finished 30 seconds behind the Frenchman.

"I had expected that Chavanel would go fast, but I didn’t know the he would beat me by 30 seconds,” Kelderman said. "The race was not difficult enough in the final stage, for me it would have been better if there was a mountain in it.

Wilco Kelderman finished in the peloton and maintained his second place, which also helped him take home the white jersey. "It's nice that I won a jersey. It was a beautiful race with the stage win of Van Asbroeck and we won the points jersey and the team classification. That makes for a good atmosphere in the team. " 

Maassen knew it would be difficult to win the GC in the last stage. “Before the time-trial, I said that whoever beats Oliveira would win the race, Wilco did it with a minor difference. But Chavanel rode even harder. And, the gap was too big to overcome in the last stage.

‘Good team work’

“I have seen a good team all week, which is nice if you are the sport director behind them,” Maassen added. "With a stage victory, the team classification, second place in the overall standings and two jerseys you should definitely be satisfied.

“Now on our way to the next objective, the GP Plouay-Bretagne, hopefully we can do something beautiful there."