Scheldeprijs, a.k.a the unofficial sprinters world championship, saw the bunch take on a flat parcours throughout the Belgian countryside this afternoon. Attentive for any early echelons, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL were present on the right side of the splits but things ultimately regrouped as they began the smaller local circuits around Schoten. Working very well as a unit, the team brought finisher Casper van Uden forward and held their position in the closing kilometres. Well towards the front going under the flamme rouge, the bunch then surged on the right hand side of Van Uden. As he was then stuck against the barriers on the left, Van Uden unfortunately couldn’t get a gap to launch his sprint as things opened up in the charge to the line.
Van Uden said: “The boys did a really good job together all day and kept me safe. I think we were in a really good position going into the last kilometre but I let myself get boxed in a bit on the left hand side and could never really open up my sprint. I’m a bit disappointed in myself that I made a mistake on the left side after the boys did a good job. We showed we are a good team today and had good legs, so it’s onto the next one.”