With 38 climbs and over 3000 meters altitude, the riders had a tough course in South Limburg. The race was hard from the start and there were a lot of attacks. Nine riders eventually managed to escape. The leaders had a two-minute lead and seemed to be caught by the peloton at 70 kilometers from the finish.

In the end, this did not happen. However, a group of six rode away, but unfortunately without any of our riders. As a result, the team had to sacrifice several riders to close the gap. Despite strong work from the youngsters, the leaders proved too strong and Belgian-Limburger Timo Kielich won the race. Van der Sande and Vermote finished in the peloton.

"What we performed today is unfortunately not reflected in the results. The guys rode really well today and as a team," sport director Sierk Jan de Haan looks back with satisfaction. "Even though we missed the breakaway of the day and just couldn't keep up with the counter-attackers, we kept showing initiative. Our Devo riders gave the best of themselves and that makes us happy," De Haan said.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike sees this Volta NXT Classic as a great learning moment. "It is important that they dare to take initiative and make decisions during the race. And they learned from that today," De Haan concluded.