A special moment yesterday in the sixteenth stage of the Tour de France. Cyclist Nils Eekhoff from Rijsenhout wins an intermediate sprint out of nowhere, just ahead of green jersey wearer Wout van Aert.
Van Aert couldn’t exactly laugh at the incident afterwards. “Everyone has the right to sprint”, Van Aert said to the Belgian after the stage sporza. “I did tell Nils that I would have appreciated it if he had said beforehand that he wanted to sprint. Then we could really do that. Now he threw his wheel for me and I thought that was a bit sad. want to fill the cash register a little more.”
And that was exactly what Eekhoff and his Team DSM wanted to do. Until yesterday’s rest day, the team of the 24-year-old North Hollander had gathered only 8,700 euros. “There is simply 1,500 euros on the line there, I think it is quite possible to sprint for that,” said Eikhoff after the incident.
Contract
The remarkable moment happened a day after the announcement of Eekhoff’s contract extension. The Dutchman has signed a new contract with Team DSM that will bind him to the Dutch cycling team until the end of 2024. At the moment, Eekhoff is still active in the Tour de France. Eekhoff is 127th in the general classification and is more than three hours behind the yellow jersey, which hangs around the shoulders of Jonas Vingegaard. The Tour de France ends next Sunday.