Jump start Team LottoNL-Jumbo in Tour de France’s opening TT
Team LottoNL-Jumbo rode a good opening time trial in the Tour de France. Jos van Emden finished fifth in Utrecht, Wilco Kelderman had the ninth best time and Robert Gesink finished 11th – all well propelled by the home Dutch crowd on the 13.8-kilometre course in Utrecht. As a result, Team LottoNL-Jumbo leads the team classification. Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) won the time trial and took the general classification lead.
“This was outstanding,” Jos van Emden said. “The people were all shouting. With 800,000, you have a feeling as if you’re riding in a big stadium. It was a 14km tunnel of noise. Especially so in the tunnels, were it was resounding.”
“It was superb,” Wilco Kelderman said. “It was one big wall of sound. That gave me adrenaline and I think that we all went faster because of that. I imagined it, but of course, it was even better. I’m very satisfied with my race. I started this Tour in a good way.”
Noise
“I tried to manage my energy as well as possible,” Robert Gesink explained. “Some uncertainty means that I started a little bit too fast. I tried to focus on the rhythm of my legs. That worked. I wanted to feel the noise as much as possible on the other hand, because it helps you to ignore the pain. It was one long scream from the beginning until the end. That carried me on.”
Laurens ten Dam did not win, but was not worried. “My time will come. It’s not the second or third week, already. A time trial like this isn’t made for Laurens ten Dam. If you ask me, I would like to start with a race to Alpe d’Huez. I did the best I could. It was unforgettable. A hurricane of sound. Together with the team presentation last Thursday, these moments will always stay with me.”
“The crowd gave me a real boost,” Steven Kruijswijk added. Kruijswijk looked back on a good time trial, as well, finishing 31st. “This is a once in a lifetime experience. It went quite good for me too. This isn’t my specialty, so the only thing I could do was giving everything. That succeeded and I’m feeling that I’m in good shape at the moment.”
A little dance
Sports Director Nico Verhoeven called the first day of the Tour de France a dream. “This was what we wanted to accomplish,” he said. “There is nothing better than delivering a good result immediately in The Netherlands. You start the Tour in a good way. We went beyond our goal.
“Our choice to let our best riders in the time trial start early turned out to be a good one. They were saved from the stress and pressure of a late start. Besides that, we really have a good bike. We are confident about this Bianchi Aquila and that helps a lot. We have three men with the best eleven riders, that proves it. The fifth place of Jos is great. He did a little dance to celebrate his victory. It’s a dream come true for him. We have to keep that feeling and use it in the tomorrow’s stage.”
