Before Thursday’s stage 12 at the Giro d’Italia, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL announced that unfortunately Fabio Jakobsen would not Another sprint stage awaited the peloton at 4 Jours de Dunkerque on Thursday afternoon. It was a controlled race with a three rider break going clear, while all Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders kept their powder dry in the peloton, looking to stay safe ahead of the finale. The break was eventually brought back and coming into the finale the team moved forward well, positioning Nils Eekhoff and Casper van Uden. However, things were hectic on the run-in through the many sinuous turns and the guys lost each other a bit in the final kilometre. Van Uden tried to get back to Eekhoff’s wheel but spent a lot of energy to do so, and when the sprint opened up he shouted to Eekhoff to go for it, with the tall Dutchman picking up a good fourth place on the stage.
Eekhoff said: “It was a controlled day with some rain showers. We came with a good plan to move up a bit later as one group. Once we took the front Enzo did a great job pulling. Sean and Dege brought me and Casper in the last kilometre but unfortunately Casper lost my wheel in the chicane within the last kilometre. I stayed calm to try to get together and launch him but he didn’t have the kick anymore after making an effort to come back. I came from the slipstream with high speed which was good enough for a fourth place. The coming two days offer some nice stages for the GC which I and the rest of the team are looking forward to.”