Team dsm-firmenich PostNL’s Men’s program took on their last European race of the season on Saturday at Il Lombardia; the final Monument of the year. Laying ahead of the them was an incredibly hard parcours with over 4500 metres of climbing packed into 250 gruelling kilometres. Unfortunately, the team would only begin with six riders as Romain Bardet was unable to start due to illness. However, the rest of the squad rallied around each other well in what was a very attacking edition of the race.
From the flag drop the pace was high and multiple attacks were made but nothing was able to stick. It took for on the second ascent of the race for a group to go clear at the front, that included Martijn Tusveld. However, the peloton kept them somewhat close and more counter attacks were launched, with Kevin Vermaerke smartly following one of those larger moves. Eventually contact was made between the two leading groups and 23 riders came together at the head of the race; including the two Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders. A determined peloton kept them close though and coming onto the Sormano ascent the gap was just one minute, where an infernal pace was set. As the peloton shredded, Tusveld was caught and passed first, before Vermaerke was reeled back in where he then found himself in a group alongside Warren Barguil. The duo continued to push to the line, with Vermaerke leading home the team just outside the top 20 on the day.
Vermaerke said: “It was the last race of the year for everyone and we knew it was going to be a long and hard day out. We had Martijn in a pretty strong break and on the second climb of the day another pretty strong group went across and I was able to follow the wheels and get there. I think when we look back on the race then we gave ourselves the best possible chance by having Martijn and I in the front. Martijn could help me save some energy and we then had Warren back in the peloton to try and follow there. The legs were honest on the Sormano and we just did the best effort we could. I don’t think we could have changed much more to get a better result today. I’m looking forward to off-season now and a little break, before getting back into it for next year.”
