In the first hour the riders covered more than fifty kilometres. Attempts by Christoph Pfingsten to participate in the breakaway came to nothing.

Sports director Arthur van Dongen was very clear afterwards. “It was a very fast race. In the beginning we planned to send Pfingsten as a rider in the breakaway. He tried several times. However, due to the high pace this didn’t work out. Maarten crashed in the run-up to the second climb of the Kluisberg. Fortunately, the damage was not too bad. Then Olav crashed. Edoardo Affini then waited for him. Due to this concurrence of circumstances, the team tactics were somewhat disrupted. Unfortunately, we lost a number of men, who also didn’t feel well enough to survive the violence on the various climbs.”

Despite the unfortunate race, there was still a ray of hope in the person of Pascal Eenkhoorn. “Although Pascal has not felt great in recent days, he managed to fight his way back into the race today. Eventually he finished in the group that rode for second place. I think that is the most remarkable thing about this day. On to Sunday, when the next challenge awaits us”, Van Dongen concluded.