Italian one-day racing returned today with Gran Piemonte, as Team dsm-firmenich PostNL Men’s program lined up on European soil for the penultimate time this season. Approaching the main climb of the day, the team took control in the peloton, setting the pace behind the breakaway to make the race more challenging. In the second part of the ascent, Martijn Tusveld took over and set up an attack by Kevin Vermaerke, who crested the climb in a strong chasing group. Unfortunately, he was held up by a puncture and fell out of contention. However, Martijn managed to bridge to the front group, which grew larger as more dropped riders returned to the front. While a solo attacker claimed the win, Martijn put in a solid performance and finished in 14th place in the sprint from the first chasing group.
Tusveld said: “It was a nice day for me. We planned to really make the race hard on the long climb, as we wanted to create a situation where we could tire out the sprinters and get over the top in a small group with as many of us as possible. Immediately at the bottom of the climb, we went to the front to set a good pace. It was really nice, as we were all there together and pushing. I set the pace for Kevin in the second part of the climb, and he launched a strong attack. We had some bad luck on the descent, as he got a puncture and dropped from the leaders. I felt really good and made it into the group of 15 that caught the breakaway. I think our plan was really good, because if Romain [Bardet] had a slightly better day and Kevin had a bit more luck, both would have been in that group, and we would have had several cards to play. I took a bit of a gamble for the sprint at the end, but I got boxed in when I tried to launch it. Overall, though, I am really happy with my result, with how I felt, and with how we animated the race as a team.”