Sam Welsford and Team DSM power to 6th after breakaway stays away

After Wednesday’s amazing 1-2 victory in the ZLM Tour prologue, Sam Welsford managed to get another top listing as the Australian sprinted to a solid 6th place in ‘s-Heerenhoek behind the break, who stayed away.

The day started in the South-East of the Netherlands, in Westkapelle. For the first time in his pro career, Nils Eekhoff showed up in the yellow leaders jersey, whilst Alex Edmondson wore the green. Despite the day looking set to be one for the sprinters with a mainly flat parcours, many attackers tried their luck in the beginning and a breakaway of eight went clear after 20 kilometres. John Degenkolb pulled hard to catch the leaders, but contrary to the days predictions, the break would stay away until the finish. Welsford almost caught the remainder of the breakaway in the last metres as he finished only a few seconds later in 6th position.

After the race, Welsford stated: “The first road stage of the ZLM Tour is always stressful as riders are quite nervous because of the crosswind potentials and possibilities of splitting. We were always active in the front of the peloton, but were stuck behind when the group split. Then, we started riding with Pat and he did a really good job controlling at the front and holding us in a good position until the final laps. Unfortunately, we couldn’t catch the break in the final, but the boys did a really good lead-out for my sprint to 6th. We showed to be one of the strongest teams and if we can get our sprint in a good position, we will get that top step. I’m super happy for Nils to keep his yellow jersey and we’ll move on to tomorrow.” 

Team DSM coach Roy Curvers added: “It was a tricky day in Zeeland; all the time there was danger for echelons, but it never really exploded and in the end, the bunch miscalculated the break and they stayed away. Sam won the Bunch sprint, which was only for place six. Nils held on to his yellow jersey so all in all this was a day that we can build further on.”