Fresh from winning the mountains classification at the Arctic Race of Norway, Tom Van Asbroeck continued his good form with his first victory in LottoNL-Jumbo colours. The Belgian warmed up with sixth on the opening stage of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes before out-sprinting Manuel Belletti (Wilier - Southeast) in Niort.
The 26-year-old, who won the Cholet-Pays De Loire and a stage of the Tour de Wallonie in 2014, had several top-ten results across this season before his stage win.
"I'm speechless," Van Asbroeck said. "I yearned for a win. The team supported me. They believed in my chances even more than I did.
"I had goose bumps because of the team's level. Bert-Jan Lindeman absolutely flew to the front straight through the wind in the final four kilometres of the race. When we only had 1.5 kilometres left, I still had four team-mates in front of me. That was when I thought, 'Damn, we're doing a great job!'
"I felt comfortable and that gave me a euphoric feeling. After Bert-Jan, Robert Wagner took the matters in his hands and Dennis van Winden brought us to the foot of the final hill afterwards. The pace Sep Vanmarcke set at that little uphill almost scared me. With 300 metres to go, he gave another knock at it. It was unbelievable, Sep is as strong as a bear."
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Following strong work by his team, Van Asbroeck was at the head of the peloton coming into the final 100 metres when a crash on the right-hand side of the took brought down several riders and led to a scuffle once the fallen riders had crossed the line. Van Asbroeck avoided the tangle as he thew his arms up in triumph for the team's 15th win of the season.
"The team delivered a phenomenal performance and I should have been ashamed if I didn't finish it off. I wouldn't dare to show myself anymore," added Van Asbroeck.
Hutarovich breaks collarbone in Tour du Poitou-Charentes crash
Yauheni Hutarovich (Fortuneo Vital Concept) was the biggest casualty of the stage 2 finish line crash at Tour du Poitou-Charentes as he fell and broke his left collarbone. The 32-year-old was the last of the 135 riders to cross the line but abandoned the race once the break was revealed.
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