CYCLING – The Belgian Dries van Gestel has won the Albert Achterhes Ronde van Drenthe. He crossed the finish line in Hoogeveen alone. Second was Hungarian Barnabás Peák, while Frenchman Hugo Hofstetter took third place.
The big question of the day at the start in Assen was who would be the successor of the Belgian Rune Herregodts.
The biggest eye-catcher was in any case Niki Terpstra, former winner of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. He was especially looking forward to the first 100 kilometers. “Then we’ll cross the boulders. That seems cool to me.”
leading group
The leading group of the day were the Dutchmen Jasper Schouten (Allinq), Sven Burger (BEAT Cycling) and Rick Ottema (Metec). The latter was the only one left, but was caught 33 kilometers before the finish by a chasing group of 14 men including Roy Eefting, Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix), Pascal Eenkhoorn, Timo Roosen and Rick Pluimers (Jumbo-Visma). ).
This group had shaken off the peloton at 65 kilometers before the end. Big names like Niki Terpstra and Guillaume van Keirsbulck were absent from this battle. The lead of the leading group eventually increased to 1 minute and 42 seconds.
Col du Vam
From 30 kilometers before the end, the Jumbo-Visma cyclists tried to get away, but all attacks were parried one by one. The last executioner of the day was the VAM-Berg, which loomed 15 kilometers before the end. It was the Belgian Dries van Gestel who lit the fuse. He was accompanied by Timo Roossen, Barnabás Peák from Hungary, Joren Bloem, Tim van Dijke and the Frenchman Hugo Hofstetter.
The group seemed to fight in the sprint who would win, but Van Gestel took off more than three kilometers before the finish and was not caught up again. Best Dutchman was Timo Roosen in fourth place.