WorldTour racing returned for the team on Wednesday at Eschborn-Frankfurt, with the organisers sticking to the altered route that was first tackled last year. Taking on his home race, John Degenkolb made it into the break of three to represent Team dsm-firmenich PostNL, while the rest of the squad supported Frank van den Broek and Kevin Vermaerke. Like last year, a strong tempo was set over the climbs as teams looked to distance the sprinters and as a result Degenkolb’s break was reeled in with over 90 kilometres to go. Becoming a race of attrition, the bunch thinned down to around 35 riders with Van den Broek and Vermaerke still present for the team, with the duo riding well to cover the multiple attacks, before one rider slipped away. However, with all of the climbs covered and still 25 kilometres to go, those teams with multiple riders shared the work and brought it back together for a sprint. Coming into the finale Van den Broek moved Vermaerke forward, before the American kicked and gave all he had left in his legs, eventually taking a nice seventh place finish.”
Vermaerke said: “It was a late call-up for me but I was excited to test my legs one last time ahead of the Giro. It ended up being a pretty selective final. Tim and Pat really set Frank and I up well for the last climbs. It was nice also to have John represented in the break out front in his home race for us. When we came to the Feldberg for the second time the race split into a group of about 35. Both Frank and I were there and felt good. In the end, the group went towards the finish but I got a little bit swarmed going into the last kilometre. Frank did a great job to bring me back into position for the sprint. In the last 150 metres I had to sit down and just didn’t have the gas to go for a top result in the sprint, but it’s a solid seventh place for us today. I felt good on the climbs so I’m excited to head to the Giro with good form.”
