The second stage took the riders on an almost flat 179-kilometer course. Three riders briefly led the race, but it soon became clear that the sprinters' teams had set their sights on a bunch sprint. Team Visma | Lease a Bike took control and tried to put Kooij in a position to sprint for the win.

Kooij, who won the first stage on Sunday, got caught up in the finale and missed out on a good result. Arvid de Kleijn sprinted to victory. "The goal was to go for the win today, but unfortunately things turned out differently. Olav lost the wheel of Edoardo Affini and then it was over," Frans Maassen said.

According to the sport director, it was a stage to forget soon. "It was a long day for the peloton. Nobody wanted to be in the breakaway and in the end we kept the pace going. Unfortunately Olav didn't get to sprint."

Tomorrow a team time trial is scheduled where Team Visma | Lease a Bike will go for the highest possible result. "We are going to prepare as well as we can and then we are going to see what we can do. We are super motivated for this TTT."