Mike Teunissen placed ninth in the Dwars door Vlaanderen today for team LottoNL-Jumbo. He attacked early in the race, stuck with the first group afterwards and held his own in the sprint. Tom Van Asbroeck finished 11^th behind winner Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Soudal).

Dwars door Vlaanderen started with a moment of silence to support the victims of the terrorist attacks in Brussels on Tuesday. The race organisation decided Tuesday night that the Belgian one-day-race would go on regardless. 

Mike Teunissen took his chance on the Flemish roads. “I was willing to attack today,” Teunissen said about his early escape. “I know that there are men in the line up who are better than me so I wanted to take control early.”

Chances at winning
His tactic proved a positive one. “You’re always in the first group when they catch you,” he continued. “It might have been better to wait a little longer when you look at my chances at winning this race, on the other hand. This way of racing takes a lot of power and I paid for it in the end.”

Teunissen finished in the first group together with Tom Van Asbroeck, who took 11^th. “Tom and I were both running out of power in the final,” Teunissen added. “That’s why we decided to go for our own chances. It wouldn’t have made sense to lead out the sprint for the other one. We weren’t fresh enough to do that.”

Frustrating
While Teunissen and Van Asbroeck were in the first group of riders, the other Team LottoNL-Jumbo riders tried to bring Dylan Groenewegen back in front. “We gave everything in the final 20 kilometres of the race to give Dylan the chance to sprint for the victory,” Sports Director Nico Verhoeven said. “Just before Nokere Berg, there was only 30 metres between the two groups. It’s frustrating that we just didn’t close that gap. That’s the dominating feeling after this race. We wanted to see an aggressive team today, on the other hand, and Mike and Tom did a good job.”