Ramon Sinkeldam sprinted to victory at the men’s elite Dutch national championships on Sunday, resulting in Team Sunweb’s third title during their 2017 national championship campaign.
As an initial breakaway went clear, Team Sunweb sent Albert Timmer and Tom Stamsnijder out into the leading group to keep an eye on proceedings at the head of the race. As the early break rejoined the peloton, counter attacks were launched but the race came back together on the approach to the finale and Team Sunweb were still there with a strong team to place Sinkeldam in prime position for the sprint.
After a flawless lead-out, Sinkeldam was able to finish off a successful day of well played tactics to sprint to the victory in a photo finish finale ahead of Wouter Wippert (Cannondale-Drapac) and Dylan Groenewegen (Team LottoNL-Jumbo).
After the victory Sinkeldam said: “This is an amazing victory for me and the team. The guys did an amazing job throughout the whole day and executed our plan to perfection. I was able to stay fresh for the finish and could finish off the team’s hard work to take the win. It’s amazing to have the support of the staff and team to be able to sprint to the win today, I am speechless.”
Team Sunweb coach Arthur van Dongen added: “We were there throughout the whole day keeping control with both Albert and Tom [Stamsnijder] in the early break. When they dropped we started to chase with Laurens [ten Dam] and Marc [Goos]. The plan was to attack in the final two laps and save Ramon for a sprint situation. The team executed the plan perfectly and Ramon could sprint to victory. The team did a great job and the win wouldn’t have been possible without the great work of everybody.”
