Nils Eekhoff 4th in gruelling edition of Münsterland Giro

Testing weather conditions made for a challenging day out at the Münsterland Giro, where Nils Eekhoff made it into the ten rider group that would fight for the win, taking a strong fourth place at the end of the race.

Rolling out from Osnabrück, it was a steady start to proceedings but the bunch drastically increased the pace after around 20 kilometres, catching the early break and splitting things to pieces. Pavel Bittner, John Degenkolb, Nils Eekfhoff, Niklas Märkl and Casper van Uden made it into a front split of around 35 to 40 riders, while Alex Edmondson and Alberto Dainese kept tabs on things behind. The advantage for the group out front only ever reached around one minute and 30 seconds at most, and entering the hilly section the peloton the bunch increased the tempo. As a result, the same happened out front and Eekhoff followed the attacks well to get into the leading group of ten.

Despite having 70 kilometres to go, the gap hovered at around 50 seconds for the remainder of the day and once they hit the local lap in Münster with ten kilometres to go, it was even clearer those ahead would fight for the win. Eekhoff rode a smart race and let some others close down moves before he latched onto a dangerous attack from Laporte, but the duo were brought back. Eventually the winning move from Hagenes went and the podium positions would be decided in a sprint. Eekhoff gave it his best and showed a strong kick around the outside of the group, coming round some riders and getting up to take a good fourth place at the line.

“It was a fast day straight from the start,” explained Eekhoff. “It looked like the bunch wanted to control for a little while when they let the three riders go. Then quite soon after Bora just drilled it and in the cross-tailwind it was so fast that it split. We had a group of around 30 to 40 guys, with five of us in, and the cooperation was pretty decent and we maintained the gap for quite a while. Then on the hilly circuit, the first two times were at a controlled pace, but on the third time the break went full. I was able to stay with the first guys and make it into a nice group of ten. I think the situation was pretty good for us, as I didn’t need to work in the front as we still had fast guys behind and could play that card. On the final circuit I tried to follow the right attacks and if I saw an opportunity then go for it myself. I went with Laporte, who is a fast guy, and I gambled a bit as I didn’t want to go all-in together with him to the finish. We gambled and then got caught, and I just missed the jump of Hagenes. In the end it came down to a sprint and I could get third in the group, so fourth overall. I’m a little disappointed as I think there was more in it today but that’s bike racing.”

Team dsm-firmenich coach Roy Curvers added: “We did everything right to keep the race in our hands as long as possible. In the beginning a big group went, where we had five of our guys in and when it came to the laps with the climb, it was all about the legs. Nils made the jump in a group of ten. It would have been perfect to have one more guy in, but unfortunately we just missed a bit at that point. In the final Nils saved his legs as good as possible until he did an all or nothing attack with Laporte. Unfortunately, that one didn’t make it and the next one was the winning move and Nils had to let it go, sprinting to fourth in the end.”