Timo Roosen has fought for a top ranking in the 73rd edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen. The 25-year-old Dutchman was in the front during the final and eventually became thirteenth. Roosen was in a group with, amongst others, Van Avermaet, Benoot, Terpstra and Valverde.

This year’s edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen was one of the wettest editions of recent years. Due to the incessant rain and wind the race became a true battle. With Danny van Poppel, Timo Roosen, Maarten Wynants and Amund Grondahl Jansen, Team LottoNL-Jumbo had four riders in the front of the race for a long time. After an uncomfortable situation had been corrected by the team in the hill section, Roosen, who crashed earlier in the race, could bridge across to the breakaway.

“We were well placed in the race with the guys”, sports director Nico Verhoeven said in his post-race analysis. “We had four riders in the front in the hill section, but we made a mistake on the Kluisberg. After the Kluisberg a group of fifteen went away but we missed it. We then corrected the situation, but only Timo could bridge across on the Cote de Trieu. Danny and Amund could not close the gap in the final metres, while Maarten was very strong in his attempt to do so. And so it happened only Timo was in the front. As a result, we couldn’t deploy our tactic for the final. Timo was very strong and showed that he is capable of riding tough classic finals. We missed a bit of luck today, but if we keep working with these young guys, I am sure luck will be on our side soon.”