Jos van Emden won the opening 6.4-kilometre time trial of the Ster ZLM Toer in 7’23". The LottoNL-Jumbo cyclist was three seconds faster than the American Taylor Phinney (BMC). Swiss Stefan Küng placed third.

 “I do not often win, so I am very happy with it,” said van Emden. "It did not feel great, but a time trial has to hurt. Luckily, I had some energy left in the end to give everything. And that last part was the hardest, and I was able to push a larger gear and make a difference."

 "This is a beautiful win,” added Sports Director Nico Verhoeven. "Jos van Emden began not too fast but after that, he came on strong. With only a kilometre left, he was on the schedule for the fastest time at that moment. And if you see that he is still able to go 60kph then you know it is a good final kilometre. In the last kilometre, he went three seconds faster than the rest."

Yellow jersey

"I hope to keep the jersey as long as possible, which should be possible in the stage between around Oss tomorrow, but you never know. I’ll enjoy this first," said the new leader.

Verhoeven is already happy with the team’s ride in the tour. He said, “We're not just going to give the jersey away. We want to keep it as long as possible. We are here with Dylan Groenewegen also to win stages."