Team LottoNL-Jumbo team captain Steven Kruijswijk has finished in the first part of the peloton in the shortened mountain stage in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. George Bennett finished in the second group due to a crash in the final kilometre. Bennett himself wasn’t involved. Bert-Jan Lindeman unfortunately did crash. He managed to finish the stage but it remains to be seen how big his injuries are.

The stage, originally 193 kilometres long, was reduced by forty kilometres. As a result, only two climbs remained.

Grischa Niermann thought that his team got through the day reasonably well. “Steven and George were both at the front and stayed out of trouble. Unfortunately, there was a crash in the last kilometre which split the group. George Bennett therefore finished in the second group. However, we hope that the differences will not count for the overall ranking. It was another cold day which started to have some effect on the riders”, the sports-director said.

“Above all it was a game of poker in the final”, Niermann continued. “The teams were looking at each other to do the job. Nobody wanted to chase behind De Gendt. Tomorrow is the first mountaintop finish in La Molina. Steven and George are both doing well in the general classification. Tomorrow we’ll see what they are capable of.”