Antwan Tolhoek has finished second in the Japan Cup. In the last race of the season, the 24-year-old from the province of Zeeland, The Netherlands met his match in the Australian Robert Power, who was faster in the sprint.

Team LottoNL-Jumbo raced very combatively. Robert Gesink was part of the decisive breakaway with Tolhoek, but suffered a mechanical problem at a bad moment in the race. Koen Bouwman was part of the early break and was rewarded with the mountain jersey.

“We wanted to finish this wonderful season with a good result. We succeeded”, sports director Frans Maassen concluded. “The boys rode a very good race. Koen rode the whole day in the front and got rewarded with the mountain jersey. In the final, a leading group of sixteen got established containing four of our riders. In the end, six riders got away, with Antwan and Robert. Unfortunately, Robert broke a spoke on the last climb where Antwan and Power attacked. Antwan tried to drop Power a few times, but that didn’t work out. Then he was beaten in the sprint. Unfortunately, we didn’t win, but we did ride a beautiful race.”