Tom Van Asbroeck crashed in the morning stage on the third day of the Tour du Poitou Charentes today. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s sprinter lost his lead in the general classification, and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) won the stage and took the lead for a few hours. In the afternoon, Wilco Kelderman finished second to Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), who took over the leader’s jersey.

“It was a long day with two stages,” Sports Director Frans Maassen said. “It was one with ups and downs. Tom’s crash was a pity because he would have finished very strongly again, otherwise. Some riders took the final turn sharply and that’s why Tom crashed. Dennis van Winden finished fifth and Sep Vanmarcke ninth, so says a lot about our lead-out train.

“Twan Castelijns had to abandon the race in the morning stage. I’m not a doctor, but it seemed like a sunstroke. It’s extremely hot and Twan looked like he had a fever because of it.”

Good results

The team’s time trial specialists took the morning stage easy. “I thought that the one who was able to beat Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) would win the time trial,” continued Maassen. “Wilco Kelderman beat him, but didn’t win. Sylvain Chavanel deserved it, though. He won with a big difference. Wilco, Primoz Roglic and Sep Vanmarcke finished second, fourth and tenth. Those are good results, but I was confident about our chances at winning this one.”

Kelderman was satisfied about his time trial. “It’s a pity that the winner was so much faster, but I have to deal with it. I was aiming for the win. It was extremely hot today and that made it much harder. Riding with a time trial helmet and shoe socks smothers you.  

“It went quite well, but I’m not considering myself as a possible overall winner anymore. We’re going to fight for the stage win tomorrow.”