Following his Italian teammate, Tobias Foss rode a descent time trial and finished in twelfth place. By doing so he secured his ninth place in the general classification. George Bennett finished eleventh overall and Koen Bouwman twelfth.

Affini looked back on his first full Giro with a good feeling. “I am very happy with what I showed this Giro. It’s my first full grand tour and I am satisfied with two second places and a third place. It was a very beautiful experience. In addition, I gave myself completely for the team every day, so as a result I didn’t have the greatest legs anymore today. I gave it my all, but Ganna is just too strong for the time being. He is the world champion after all. I will do everything I can to keep improving in the coming years and definitely also in this discipline. And, who knows, one day I might beat Ganna.”

Foss, who also completed his first full grand tour, was very grateful to the team. “It were three great weeks and it was a very nice experience. I want to thank the team for the opportunity and the confidence and the trust they had in me. And also for all the work they did for me over the past few weeks. The mindset was really good and that was nice to see. We gave everything every day. I have learned a lot and there is still a lot to learn for the future. To be already in the top ten in a grand tour is a dream come true. It gives me a lot of confidence for the future and it is also a confirmation that we have made a lot of steps in the right direction in my development process.”

Sports director Arthur van Dongen counted his blessings in Milan. “Edo gave everything to win the stage today, but the real good feeling was missing. However, that is not that surprising after three weeks of hard work for the team. But the third place is still a good result. Tobias’ time trial was also very good. The fact that he finished ninth in the GC as a young rider bodes well for the future. Looking back on the whole Giro, we had different objectives coming into the race, especially with George. When it turned out that this was not going to work out the way we had hoped, the team showed resilience and switched their mindset really quickly. We have been in breakaways that competed for stage wins and in the mountains we were consistently in a good place. You can also see that in the GC with three riders in the top twelve. I also wvant to compliment Koen. He has done a lot of work for the team and still managed to finish in twelfth place. That also shows the steps he has made in his development over the years.”