Pascal Eenkhoorn has won the third stage in the Colorado Classic. In the streets of Denver, the first-year pro from Team LottoNL-Jumbo was the fastest rider from a small peloton.

“I really didn’t expect this”, Eenkhoorn said. “It was the queen stage and from the start it went full throttle. For a moment, I was in a breakaway, but on the first climb I had to let go of the first group.”

On the second - the longest - climb of the day, Eenkhoorn came back into the peloton. “I told the boys that I felt good. I survived the climbs easily and I became better and better.”

For a long time, it seemed that the 161 kilometres long stage was going to be won by a rider from the early break. Seven men were riding in front of the peloton and only in the final they were caught. In the final, there were a lot of attacks and a few hundred metres before the finish the last attacker was caught. “It was a close call, but we stayed together as a team all the time. I was in the front with only two kilometres to go”, Eenkhoorn said. “Maarten Wynants and Jan Maas passed me and I jumped into their wheels. In the last two hundred metres, it was up to me and I could cross the line first.”

Eenkhoorn’s victory is his second of the year after he had won a stage in the Coppi e Bartali in March. The stage victory in Colorado is the 28th victory for LottoNL-Jumbo this season. “This is a victory for the entire team”, sports director Sierk-Jan de Haan said. “The stage victory is partly due to the strong relation that the riders and staff have built over the past three weeks.”

The team has been in the United States for a while already. And not without success: with Sepp Kuss, Team LottoNL-Jumbo won three stages in the Tour of Utah and the final classification.