On a wet course, Wout van Aert was among the early starters and set out without any goals. He primarily used his time trial to prepare for the next days. "Everything went as I expected. I think it was wise of me to avoid taking any chances, given the rain. I can be satisfied."

Like Van Aert, Roglic and Kelderman participated in their first race of the season. The Slovenian underwent surgery on his shoulder last year and hadn't raced since his crash in the Vuelta. The team management chose to include him in the selection after a successful altitude training camp.

"I felt ready to race because I had a long training block. I'll become aware of the areas I need to improve when competing in races", Roglic stated. "Most importantly, I am back in the peloton and competing again. I'm not under any stress over the classification."

Roglic finished his race against the clock in 12th place. He conceded just under 50 seconds to stage winner Filippo Ganna. "For now, I'm happy with this performance. I'm glad to be back and looking forward to the next stages."

Kelderman rode one second faster than his teammate in his debut race for Team Jumbo-Visma. He finished in 10th place.

Sports director Arthur van Dongen reflected on the team's performance with a positive feeling. "We are satisfied with this. The ambition is to keep improving here and get in shape for the Tour of Catalonia and the Giro d'Italia. It's good that Primoz and Wilco can get to know one another this way since they had never ridden together."

Kelderman and Tiesj Benoot, the winner of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, are free to pursue their own opportunities in the GC. "The coming week will have to show who is the best uphill."