Laurens ten Dam took another step in his development during the first tough mountain stage in the Tirreno-Adriatico today. Team LottoNL-Jumbo didn’t play a roll in the stage to Castelraimondo, but the riders are getting better. Dutchman Wout Poels won the stage.

“Things turned out the way we expected,” sports director, Nico Verhoeven explained. “Not everyone is in shape and we don’t have a team leader. It’s a little bit of the same story every day, but we’re not able to get some results here, unfortunately. However, Laurens ten Dam maintained his spot with the leaders for a long time. He is not at the level to compete with the best, but we see him improving.”

The Team LottoNL-Jumbo-riders know that the level in Tirreno-Adriatico is high and that they are not in a situation to fight for good results. “We try to break away,” Verhoeven explained. “That succeeded Thursday and Friday, but it isn’t possible to repeat that every day. When a rider doesn’t feel good one day, he can’t be in a breakaway the day after. When you do that, you’re breaking yourself down. The important thing for us, at the moment, is to stay healthy. We have to use this race to take the next step. We’re preparing ourselves for the classics here in Italy. In those races we have to perform, so we want to look ahead to that.”

That makes tomorrow another interesting day. Snow and 2°C is predicted at the finish line on top of a climb so it’s going to be tough. “We have to give everything we have,” Verhoeven said. “It’s not our priority to have someone in the early breakaway, but when it happens, it’s nice. We are not going to force anything, anyway. As long as everyone is able to take their next step, I’m satisfied.”