No victory, but Visma's formidable trio impresses in Slovakia: "We can definitely build on that"

Visma | Lease a Bike's activity started about 25 kilometers from the finish, when Thomas Gloag launched an attack. He was caught, but it was only the beginning: Bart Lemmen, Cian Uijtdebroeks, Niklas Behrens, Tijmen Graat... They all tried several times. The victory ultimately went to Paul Magnier, but team leader Jan Sierk de Haan is still more than satisfied. “I saw a strong, attacking team. We can definitely build on that.”

“We knew that Magnier was the favourite for the stage win and that Soudal Quick-Step would control the race,” the Dutchman continues on the team's website. “During the recon, we saw that there were opportunities in the last 25 kilometres. From that moment on, we tried to make the race hard by taking turns to attack.”

It was only in the final kilometers that Visma | Lease a Bike conceded defeat, after which the focus shifted to the sprint. Behrens sprinted to an impressive sixth home, his best result for the Killer Bees so far. “Soudal Quick-Step handled it well and even got help from a number of other riders. It was impressive that Niklas was still there and sprinted to sixth place.”

The second stage is a bit more difficult than the first, so Visma | Lease a Bike will use the same tactic: attack, attack, attack. “We want to try again tomorrow to leave our mark by racing aggressively. The stage is slightly tougher on paper, so we'll see how far we can get. It's important to be sharp when attacks are coming.”

But De Haan doesn't want to focus solely on Thursday. There are still plenty of opportunities in the five-day race, with the queen stage as the finale. The Dutch team has several trump cards to play there. “We're aiming for a stage win, but we're also hoping for a good GC. With Bart, Thomas and Cian, we have several riders who can finish high up.”