“Today, the second part of the BinckBank Tour kicked off with a stage that could possibly be decisive. We tried to make it a hard race today. When I was riding alone at the front for a moment, I dropped back because I was wasting energy. A few moments later, I still felt strong enough to respond to the acceleration of De Plus and go to the line together with him and Hirschi. Due to the short distance, I was a little afraid that time differences would remain limited, but eventually we worked together really well. I get on great with Laurens De Plus so we would make sure one of us could take the stage, but eventually it was a sprint man to man.”

“Before the stage, I rewatched the final kilometres a couple of times, which certainly helped me going into the final corner. I knew that I couldn’t go full gas immediately, so I stayed on Hirschi’s wheel. Eventually, I could beat him with an ultimate jump. I wasn’t sure that I won but eventually, it was enough to take the stage win and the leader’s jersey. Saturday’s eight kilometres long time trial is something that should suit me but that is also the case for De Plus. I hope to still lead the race on Saturday night. We have a kind of ‘Classics team’ for Sunday’s stage in Geraardsbergen and they should be able to assist me as good as possible. Of course, I want to keep this jersey but there are still some difficult stages to come.”