LottoNL-Jumbo’s Tom van Asbroeck placed fourth today in the Tour of Switzerland stage four to Champagne. The Belgian placed behind winner Max Richeze (Etixx), Fernando Gaviria (Etixx) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff).

Wilco Kelderman took 14th in the 193-kilometre stage, but slipped to eighth because Richeze gained bonus seconds.

"It was a long day, we had headwind so the peloton could not really gain speed,” said Sports Director Jan Boven. "In the last hour, though, it especially started to get hectic."

"At 22 kilometres remaining, Kelderman punctured, but fortunately, we had men with him quickly and he re-started rapidly. After Kelderman returned to the peloton, the team immediately drove him towards the front. We had planned to be in the front for the last climb, and we did that. We knew it was open on top of the climb and that there was a risk of the peloton splitting. Because the team kept Kelderman ahead, Tom van Asbroeck could start the sprint in the front."

Tom Van Asbroeck

"It was still a little gamble with nasty corners. The roundabouts in the final kilometre made sure that we arrived in a long line to the final corner,” said van Asbroeck. “I am happy that my form is increasingly better. Today, we had a real sprinters’ stage, which wasn’t the case in the other days so far.

“The coming days will be heavy, I'm going to try to help Kelderman as much as possible and also to improve my form. The past few days have been good for me in view of the Belgian championship." 

Kelderman to 8th in GC

"The final was still hectic, but Paul Martens kept in front of me and that was ideal,” Kelderman said. “Tomorrow we are going to really climb, I'm wondering how that will go.”

Kelderman starts the mountain stage tomorrow 23 seconds behind overall leader Sagan. The stage is short, 126 kilometres between Brig and Cari, but with many climbs.

Short mountainstage tomorrow

"Tomorrow we will see other guys on the front,” added Boven. "We have a long run uphill to the top of the Furka Pass, then the Gothardpass, and the finish is uphill to Cari. We will see the general classification men in front tomorrow.”