Tom Van Asbroeck finished seventh in the opening stage of the Tour of Norway in Langesund today. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s sprinter had to use all of his team-mates to catch the breakaway and counted only on Sep Vanmarcke for the bunch sprint. Steele Von Hoff (One Pro Cycling) won the stage.

“We worked to force a bunch sprint the whole day,” Sports Director Merijn Zeeman said. “There were five leaders and we didn’t get much support in our chase for a bunch sprint. It was hard to control the race and together with Dimension Data, we did our best to catch the breakaway. It’s a compliment for those leaders that we almost failed to bring everything back together.”

Lead-out
Because Team LottoNL-Jumbo needed more riders to close the gap, Van Asbroeck was only able to count on Vanmarcke in the bunch kick. “They were in good position, but were just too early on the front,” Zeeman continued. “There were some men able to quickly come from behind. It would have been better if we still had enough men for a lead-out, but we needed everyone earlier.”

The riders face a tough stage in Norway on Thursday. “There’s a lot of climbing to be done and we don’t have real climbers in our team for this race,” Zeeman added. “It won’t be a controlled race on the other hand because the teams are only with six riders each. We’re counting on the chance to force something in another way. We’re aiming for stage victory this race.”