Dumoulin made his presence felt in the stage to Houffalize. He attacked several times on the climbs in the final, but was unable to close the gap to Colbrelli. As a result he did not take part in the sprint for the second place.

Sports director Arthur van Dongen looked back on the stage with a positive feeling. “We rode according to plan. Aggressively. The boys have brought Tom and Mike into a good position for the final. Tom attacked a few times, but just couldn’t cross over to a superior Colbrelli. Nevertheless, he rode an excellent stage. It gives confidence and morale for tomorrow and certainly for the races to come. Mike finished well in the second group and managed to maintain his top ten classification in the overall standings. Unfortunately Timo crashed. He did finish the stage, but he normally was our third rider in the final and we had now lost him.”

Tomorrow the Benelux Tour will finish with the traditional stage to Geraardsbergen. Van Dongen certainly saw opportunities. “With Tom and Mike we have riders who can compete for the stage win. It will be a tough stage, but we will definitely try to go for it with those two. And hopefully we can gain some places in the GC.”