Team dsm-firmenich PostNL lined-up for De Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday afternoon with a mixed squad, as Robbe Dhondt and Vlad van Mechelen from the Development program took to the starting podium in Leuven alongside Tim Naberman, Enzo Leijnse, Martijn Tusveld and Frank van den Broek from the Men’s program. Setting out with a clear plan for the hilly course, the team aimed to ride strongly as a unit and put Van den Broek in a position to follow the attacks in the finale. With 70 kilometres to go the race already opened up and the original breakaway was caught. Some good positioning by the team saw Van den Broek brought to the fore after a mechanical, and he was part of a very promising 11-man group at 40 kilometres remaining. Yet, a couple of teams had missed out and worked to bring the group back. From there, the pace remained high throughout the day and unfortunately Van den Broek wasn’t able to follow when the winning move went, eventually bringing the team home in the chasing peloton.
Van den Broek expressed: “It was a hard race for us today. I unfortunately punctured just before the first time up the Moskesstraat and had a quick bike change. The guys helped me to get back to a good spot in the peloton after that which was nice, but it cost us a lot of energy. On the next lap I followed a good move when the racing was on, but unfortunately the peloton quickly organised themselves and we were caught. From there, I tried to hang on and do my best.”