A mostly pan-flat parcours played host to Veenendaal – Veenedaal Classic this afternoon, as the peloton battled it out through the Dutch countryside. With no wind to play with, it would only be the short climbs and rain in the finale which would potentially stop any sprint finish. Albeit, a strong breakaway did put up a good fight and they were caught within the closing five kilometres. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL had set out with the plan of protecting Emils Liepins and setting up for the finish, with Niklas Märkl as last lead-out man. Unfortunately, there was almost a crash in the bunch inside two kilometres to go which saw Liepins have to brake and he lost Märkl’s wheel. Märkl then held position in the bunch, hoping Liepins would make it back to him but the twisting roads coupled with rainy conditions in the finale made it tough. In the end the sprint opened up and both pushed all the way to the line, with Märkl taking tenth and Liepins just behind in 13th.
Speaking after the race Märkl said: “It was a typical Dutch one-day race and it was pretty hectic throughout the whole day. There was no wind so we knew that it would likely be a bunch sprint from early in the morning. We tried to make the race a bit tougher though and go in the break but the bunch wouldn’t let us in, so then we saved ourselves for the sprint where we wanted to set Emils up. We were in a good spot with two kilometres to go but then it was a bit unfortunate as we almost crashed and lost each other. From then we couldn’t really go for the sprint anymore. I was holding position but Emils never really made it back to me which was a shame, but we will keep going again in the next races.”
