A leading group of five, including Van Dijke, entered the final with a big lead and was allowed to decide who will be wearing the red, white and blue jersey.

“It was a tough course”, Van Dijke said. “The climbs certainly started to weigh in at the end. I am not a very light guy, but I managed to get over the VAM-berg reasonably well.”

Van Dijke is happy with his silver medal, but knows he was close to the Dutch title. “Of course it is great that I finished second, but I came here to win. We wanted to win the title both individually and with the team. Unfortunately it was just not enough today. One rider was too strong.”