The Tour Alsace got underway on Wednesday evening in its unique and familiar style, with a split-team team time trial prologue, as they tackled the 4.3 kilometre long course in Sausheim. First down the ramp for Development Team dsm-firmenich PostNL was Frank Aron Ragilo, Oliver Peace and Axel Källberg. Setting out at a good pace, they took on the fast but technical route well, crossing the line for a provisional third place with a time of five minutes and five seconds. The latter trio of Adam Seeman, Johan Dorussen and Thom van der Werff gave their all around the route, also setting a solid time of five minutes and 11 seconds come the finish. Ultimately, the trio that included Källberg would finish outside the top ten on the stage but only eight seconds behind the winners of the day; highlighting the tight margins.
Källberg said: “The Tour Alsace started this evening with a short TTT which included quite a few corners in it. Me, Oliver and Frank did a solid ride, and I think we can be happy with the ride as we went full gas and made no big mistakes. Tomorrow we start with the first road stage and we will look for new opportunities there and the rest of the week.”