A pan-flat day across the Friesland lowlands awaited the peloton on Wednesday, where the testing wind conditions would make for a hard day in the saddle. From the flag drop, the race split briefly into four groups but in a more sheltered section and with a headwind, things came back together. This pattern continued for the opening 50 kilometres or so before eventually the main group of the day made up of 25 riders, including Emils Liepins and Nils Eekhoff, forged clear at the front.
The pace remained high throughout the afternoon and coming into the closing 30 kilometres or so Liepins unfortunately lost contact from the group alongside some others in another crosswind section. Eekhoff rode strongly and followed several attacks in the next headwind section but he was unable to follow every move from the team’s which had multiple riders attacking. Ultimately, a group of five went clear that fought it out for the win ahead, while Eekhoff sprinted to ninth place from the chasing group.
Eekhoff expressed: “It was a fast and hard day in Friesland. It took a bit longer then we expected at first for the echelon to form. We had Emils in the first group and me and Timo and the second initially. Things reformed and then it split again and unfortunately Timo got caught out. This was the echelon which made it to the final, but some guys lost contact, including Emils, in the last main crosswind section. In the last 25 kilometres in a longer headwind part the attacking started, and I jumped on the right teams but couldn’t follow everything and missed one split which made it to the finish. We came for more but personally it was a solid top ten finish for me.”
