Riding well throughout the Tour de France, the ever reliable teammate Nils Eekhoff had to abandon the race during stage 19. Since the start of the race in Italy almost three weeks ago, Eekhoff has performed capably as part of the sprint group within the team but also on the hilly and mountainous stages he’s helped Team dsm-firmenich PostNL’s climbers in their attempts to infiltrate the breakaway. Unfortunately, after several tough days in a row and today’s fierce start, Eekhoff had to step off the bike, as he looks to recover and prepare for his next goals.
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Matt Winston said: “Nils has had a good Tour so far and has supported the guys really well. He’s been involved in the sprint stages where we’ve taken some promising results as a group, but equally on the terrain that doesn’t suit him he’s helped our climbers try and get in those breaks. He’s a really selfless teammate and we’ll miss that quality and atmosphere in the final stages. After a not ideal preparation coming into the Tour, today was finally too much for Nils so we took the decision for him to step-off the bike so he can rest and recover ahead of his next goals.”