Steven Kruijswijk maintained his fifth place overall in the Giro d’Italia’s 13^th stage today to Cividale del Friuli. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s leader relied on his team-mates through most of the stage and then fought with the other classification stars, closing seventh in the behind stage winner Mikel Nieve (Team Sky). Andrey Amador (Movistar) took over the pink jersey lead.

“The team did a great job,” Sports Director Addy Engels said. “We made the breakaway with Maarten Tjallingii and Enrico Battaglin, but it was too hard for Maarten to stay there. We survived the first climb with five riders, so Steven Kruijswijk was covered by four of his team-mates.”

Superb level

Those team-mates delivered Kruijswijk to the foot of the penultimate climb, mainly supported by Primoz Roglic. Twan Castelijns gave him food and drinks on top of the second climb. “The team gave Steven everything he needed today,” Engels continued. “And when it was his turn, he showed his superb level.”

“I was always in the right place,” Kruijswijk explained. “My team-mates helped me well when they could. Enrico Battaglin came back from the breakaway just at the right time. He was able to recover one moment and reacted strongly to an attack by Vincenzo Nibali afterwards. On a moment like that, you notice how important it is to have someone around you. In the final part of the stage, I was riding at my limit, but I think the others were, too.

“Nibali gives it all in his attempts to break away, but he doesn’t get the space he’s hoping for. That’s a sign. The six or seven of us are very close to each other when it goes uphill.”

Bad day

The only setback was that Team LottoNL-Jumbo sprinter Moreno Hofland abandoned. “He was just having a bad day and wasn’t able to find a group of riders to get along with on the first climb of the day,” Engels said. “He quit his fight in the feeding zone and got in the car.”

On Saturday, the riders face six climbs during the queen stage of the Giro d’Italia. “It’s going to be a very tough stage,” Engels added. “We’re familiar with this area, all those climbs are heavy. Steven is still in a great position and the differences between the top riders are only getting smaller. That means that the main competitors are very close to each other.”