Floris De Tier lit up the Nokere Koers race in a breakaway ahead of Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni’s eventual sprint win. LottoNL-Jumbo team-mate Steven Lammertink placed 19th place behind Bouhanni.

"I think I've tried it more than 10 times,” said De Tier of his work to make the escape.

“Eventually, I rode 60 kilometres in the break of the day. I live next door and I know the roads so it is extra nice to be in the front group. There were many supporters along the course and that gave me goose bumps."

With only 22 kilometres to go, the group caught the break of seven riders.

"When we were caught, I tried to get away again but the escape was over."

In the final, a number of other groups tried to attack. The riders of Team LottoNL-Jumbo jumped in the moves too.

‘De Tier rode strongly’

"Floris De Tier rode strongly today,” said Sports Director Grischa Niermann. “As a team we want to be with any escape. In the final, Twan Castelijns, Martijn Keizer and Steven Lammertink also jumped a number of times. I saw a strong team, but only the result counts. That was not there today.

“The team wanted to sprint with Amund Grøndahl Jansen today. We've had no real sprint train and Bert-Jan Lindeman was the last man. In the hectic final, his rear wheel broke after someone ran into it. Then you quickly have to go to plan B and use another rider as lead-out. That did not work and before the sprint began, Amund drifted backwards.

"The weather was good so those that didn’t attack were still pretty fresh. Many riders can or think that they are still able to sprint for victory. It becomes hectic in the front. Fortunately, we were not involved in any crashes."