Timo de Jong became the surprise winner of the fourth stage of the Tour of Holland. The Dutch rider from VolkerWessels outpaced top contenders Lukas Kubis and Christophe Laporte on the VAM mountain. Laporte took over the leader's jersey from Ethan Hayter, who abandoned the race early due to illness.
One day after the Limburg stage was cancelled due to weather, the Tour of Holland continued in Drenthe. Just before 12:30 p.m. this Saturday, the start was given from the Marktplein in Emmen, after which the riders headed west towards the VAM mountain. There were no fewer than eleven climbs of the VAM mountain, including two large loops that also featured the Dak of Drenthe. In the final 40 kilometers, five smaller eight-kilometer laps around the VAM mountain were on the menu.
Emmen) Col du Vam (Wijster))Seven-rider breakaway, leader Hayter abandons
Before the first climb of the VAM mountain, a breakaway had already formed. We saw seven riders upfront: the Dutchmen Hartthijs de Vries (Unibet Tietema Rockets), Rick Ottema (Diftar), Roan Konings (Metec Solarwatt p/b Mantel), Timo de Jong (VolkerWessels), the Belgians Simon Goossens (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Ward Vanhoof (Flanders-Baloise), and the Frenchman Rayan Boulahoite (TotalEnergies).
Meanwhile, GC leader Ethan Hayter was reported behind the peloton. The Brit soon faced a two-minute deficit. He turned out to be ill and would abandon the race shortly after. One thing was certain: we would have a new wearer of the orange jersey. Lidl-Trek, who had Jakob Söderqvist—the second-placed rider in the overall classification—on their roster, took responsibility. They kept the seven breakaway riders within two minutes.
De Vries leads the breakaway group - photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos
The gap had already narrowed to one and a half minutes when Mike Teunissen pushed the pace in the peloton with 45 kilometers to go. The Dutchman wasn’t able to break clear, but his move stirred things up. More riders joined the fight. A chasing group formed including Teunissen’s teammate Davide Ballerini, Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto), Emīls Liepiņš (Q36.5), and Andrea Pietrobon (Polti VisitMalta). However, they did not close in quickly on the break.
Laporte attacks
With 30 kilometers to go, Visma | Lease a Bike launched a new acceleration. Olav Kooij led out an attack by Christophe Laporte, which caught the counterattackers off guard. Only two riders could follow the Frenchman: Lukas Kubis and the rescued Ballerini. The Italian managed to keep pace briefly, but fell behind again on another ascent of the VAM mountain. In the 'peloton'—a group reduced to about ten riders, including Kooij, Teunissen, and Danny van Poppel—Daan Hoole took the front to support teammate Söderqvist. But eventually, they lost more ground.
At 16 kilometers from the finish, Laporte and Kubis caught up with the breakaway, though it was no longer really a classic break. Rayan Boulahoite had broken away solo but seemed to hesitate and was soon reeled back in. So, eight riders went into the final showdown: Boulahoite, Ottema, Vanhoof, Goossens, De Jong, Kubis, Laporte, and De Vries. The latter worked hard for Kubis.
Last ascent of the VAM mountain
Six kilometers from the finish, the Slovak Kubis launched an attack after Ottema had made a brief move. This caused Vanhoof and Goossens to drop off. Two riders down, six contenders remained. De Vries sacrificed himself for Kubis. Laporte also took some pulls now and then, while the rest held back. They conserved energy for the VAM mountain, which still had to be climbed twice. On the first ascent—the cobbled climb—Kubis pushed the pace. Together with De Jong, he opened a gap on Laporte.
Laporte managed to reconnect before the final stretch but didn’t have enough left to contest the win. The victory went to De Jong. The Zeeland rider from VolkerWessels, who is currently also a stagiaire at Picnic PostNL, launched an attack that created a gap, and he never gave up that advantage. He claimed the biggest win of his career so far with conviction.
NIBC Tour of Holland| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 03:32:49 | |
| 2 | " | |
| 3 | " | |
| 4 | + 06 | |
| 5 | " | |
| 6 | + 16 | |
| 7 | + 01:01 | |
| 8 | + 01:03 | |
| 9 | + 01:05 | |
| 10 | " |
