The seven-man squad, consisting of Matteo Jorgenson, Wilco Kelderman, Koen Bouwman, Olav Kooij, Tim van Dijke, Mick van Dijke and Edoardo Affini, started as penultimate team and clocked the fifth time at the first intermediate point. In the second part, the weather conditions began to play a role and the team lost valuable seconds.

With a time just over 32 minutes, Team Visma | Lease a Bike eventually finished in sixth place. "I am very satisfied with this," team manager Frans Maassen said. "The weather conditions were not really in our favor, but I think we performed to the maximum as a team. We were very motivated at the start and the guys fought as hard as they could."

According to Maassen, the team chose the right strategy by starting fast. "We wanted to start quickly and honestly we were surprised to get over the second climb with seven riders. At that point we had high hopes that we were going to catch back some time, but unfortunately the wind changed. The final teams didn't have that benefit.“

A tough stage awaits tomorrow in which the riders will be presented with six climbs. On behalf of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, Jorgenson and Kelderman will try and show what they are capable of. "Tomorrow we will know better what everyone is worth. We will see who can call himself the best climber of Paris-Nice," Maassen said.