“I was already feeling that I missed the power to win the stage,” Tom Van Asbroeck said after the third stage. “That is the aftermath of last spring. After all those crashes and injuries, I’m not yet at the level that I must be, but I do feel some progress. You can see an upward trend in my results. My legs are in good condition too, but I’m not powerful enough yet.”

Because of that, Van Asbroeck had to focus on the way he prepared for a sprint on Saturday. “Obviously, I was in the right position at the right time,” he continued. “I only need a few percentage points more to actually fight for the victory. That’s frustrating me because of everything that went wrong this season. I didn’t participate in many races, most of all because of a muscle rupture in my back. That is the reason why I lost a lot of strength. I can feel that at the moment.”

“Tom doesn’t have to be sad,” sports director, Nico Verhoeven said. “He’s doing a good job. His frustration is that many guys are giving everything for him. He wants to pay that off with results, but those results will come.

“Today, he wasn’t good enough, unfortunately. If he was able to keep the slipstream of Démare, he would have finished third. But he doesn’t have to blame himself.”

Knockout
On Sunday, the last stage of the Belgium Tour will change the general classification. “That’s going to be a different race,” Verhoeven said. “It’s a stage for good climbers and the better classics riders. Dennis van Winden, Timo Roosen and Maarten Wynants should be good enough for it. It’s going to be a knockout.”