Robert Gesink finished 21st overall, and with confidence, in the Tour de l’Ain today. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s star left the French race, the first since his crash in the Tour de Suisse in June, with a positive feeling. Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) won the final stage, Sam Oomen (Giant - Alpecin) took home the overall victory.

Team LottoNL-Jumbo showed its aggressiveness in the first part of the final stage with Steven Lammertink and Victor Campenearts. Lammertink was part of the first breakaway, but his escape failed to gain much space with Lotto-Soudal controlling the tempo for the overall win. At the foot of the Colombière, Victor Campenaerts broke away.

“He didn’t get more than 40 seconds of advantage,” Sports Director Nico Verhoeven said. “Victor survived the climb quite well and went along with Robert Gesink on the descent. They did a good job today.”

Campenaerts and Gesink finished 22nd and 23rd in the stage, less than a minute behind stage winner Geniez.

“Robert feels very satisfied after this result,” Verhoeven added. “He sees that he’s improving, and that’s important. He had four days of race rhythm, his first sice the crash which resulted in more damage than we had expected. He didn’t worsen during the race. He still needs time before he’s able to fight for victories again, but he has definitely improved.”