It was not an easy day for Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Loe van Belle and Owain Doull were among those involved in a crash and were forced to abandon the race. Timo Kielich was also not feeling at his best and decided to stop. “We certainly didn’t have the best day, with the number of crashes we were involved in,” Head of Racing Marc Reef explained afterwards. “It was another chaotic day with many crashes. Unfortunately, some of our riders were involved and had to abandon the race early.”

There were also positives for Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Pietro Mattio managed to make a strong comeback after his crash and, as a result, claimed the young rider jersey in the Renewi Tour.

“There are certainly also positives to take away from today,” Marc Reef reflected. “Menno and Niklas showed themselves well and went on the attack several times, so we were certainly in a good position in the race.” Team Visma | Lease a Bike deliberately opted for an attacking approach. Menno Huising and Niklas Behrens repeatedly showed themselves at the front and tried to put the team in a strong position through their aggressive racing. Behrens had already gone on the attack in the early stages of the second stage of this Renewi Tour and once again made his mark on the race in the queen stage.

Meanwhile, Filippo Fiorelli continued to fight for a strong result in the background. The Italian managed to stay well positioned in the finale and eventually sprinted to a strong eighth place. “After several setbacks, the guys kept fighting. In the final lap, we tried to position Filippo as well as possible, and he managed to sprint to eighth place. So that is certainly a good result,” Marc Reef concluded.