Martijn Keizer had a great day in the Tour de Pologne. The 29-year-old rider attacked early in the first stage of the 74th edition and won all the intermediate sprints. By doing so he claimed the KOM-jersey and the jersey for the most active rider. Peter Sagan took the stage win. Koen Bouwman ended-up twelfth.

Early in the stage, Martijn Keizer attacked with Bernas, Planet and Paterski. He had planned it beforehand. “The Tour de Pologne is a beautiful race and we want to show ourselves”, he said afterwards. “So because of that, I liked to be in the breakaway. Fortunately, it worked out!”

Nevertheless, the four leaders didn’t get much space. So Keizer soon aimed for the mountain jersey. “I knew that I had to pay special attention to Paterski during the sprints. But I felt in good shape, felt that I could win all the sprints. So I managed to get the KOM-jersey and the points jersey. Hopefully, we can continue this way the coming days.”

Sports director Grischa Niermann was also very pleased with the performances of his team. “A WorldTour-race is always very important for us. We don’t have ambitions for the general classification, but we want to show ourselves. Therefore it was great that Keizer was in the breakaway and took two jerseys. We also had Enrico Battaglin settled for the sprint, but unfortunately he had a puncture in the final.”

Niermann looks forward to the coming stages. “Young riders like Daan Olivier, Floris De Tier, Antwan Tolhoek and Koen Bouwman will get their chances. Besides, we have Enrico Battaglin for the sprints. So we will get other opportunities.”