“I can’t avoid feeling disappointed about Jos’ loss,” sports director, Erik Dekker said. “The surprise I predicted yesterday didn’t come, unfortunately. He was beaten on the finish line as you can say. That’s annoying. Jos rode a fantastic time trial, but one man was faster.”

Hot seat
Van Emden rode early in the day, the first Team LottoNL-Jumbo rider to start. His fast time put him in the hot seat for a long time. It was the second last rider in the programme to beat him in the end.
“When the camera’s were pointing on me during Peter Sagan’s last kilometre, I knew that he was going to beat me,” Van Emden said. “What a disappointment. I was so close. I was sitting on the hot seat for the whole day. That’s fun, but then you want to win even more, for sure.”

Firework
On the back of Van Emden’s performance, Robert Gesink rode a good time trial too. “Robert’s time trial was great and he moved himself in a good overall position for the final climb tomorrow,” Dekker said. “There will be fireworks on that climb. Everyone is close in the general classification. It’s going to be an exciting day.”