Casper Van Uden (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) claimed his second win in three days at the ZLM Tour, repeating his stage 2 victory with another commanding bunch sprint win.
The Dutchman was fortunate enough that a day-long break finally collapsed within sight of the finish line at the end of a flat, exposed day’s racing around the Dutch border town of Roosendaal.
However, he then made the most of his strength to lead the sprint from the front from some 300 metres to go and was clearly in control of his effort to stay ahead all the way to the line.
Second was Simon Dehairs (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-Kometa in third). The two tried to get past Van Uden near the finish but it proved impossible.
Belgium’s Rune Herregodts (Intermarché-Wanty), the GC leader since stage 1 TT, maintained control of the overall with just one day’s racing remaining.
How it unfolded
A fast and furious start on the flatlands of Holland saw multiple echelons form time and again over the first 100 kilometres, with no clear pattern emerging until a ten-rider break went clear.
Ryan Kamp (Tudor ProCycling), Max Kanter (Astana Qazaqstan), Davide Gabburo and Filippo Magli (VF Group-Bardiana CSF-Faizane), Erik Fetter (Polti Kometa), Michiel Lambrech (Bingoal-WB Devo), Niccolo Bonifazio (Corratec-Vini Fantini), Elmar Abma (VolkerWessels), Jelte Krijnsen (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and David Dekker (Arkea-B&B Hotels Continentale) carved open a gap of around 30 seconds, which they held as they hit the finishing circuit.
However, once on the 16-kilometre circuit, Kanter tried to break off alone, and collaboration shattered completely in the 10-rider group, eventually seeing Abma and Lambrecht trying to form a three-man group with Gabburo. That move failed to stick and Intermarché-Wanty continued to squeeze the gap even further between break and bunch.
A late attack with four kilometres to go by Krijnsen on the constantly twisting roads running between the numerous waterways sparked an initial response from David Dekker, but finally, it was Magli who bridged across. With the peloton, often led in person by Herregodts himself clearly visible just a few hundred metres further behind it was always going to be touch and go, though, and the two opted to work rather than start playing it tactically.
Finally swept up by an Alpecin-Deceuninck-led peloton at 300 metres to go, the bunch barely had time to organise themselves for the sprint. But finally, Van Uden could claim his fourth win of the season with a last-ditch, supremely powerful acceleration for the line that brooked no opposition.
Results
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