There were supposed to be no surprises in the final 183-kilometer stage at Ster ZLM Toer with the sprinters hungry for one more chance at their specialty, but when the day’s escape group was caught with some 25 kilometers remaining it opened the door for the opportunists.

The attack that proved fruitful was by MTN-Qhubeka’s Matt Brammeier and the Irishman stole the final show as he quickly gained time and increased his lead to a monstrous one minute and twenty seconds with five kilometers to go. 

Brammeier had enough time to soak in the win while the peloton arrived 25 seconds later and sprinted for the minor places with André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) taking second place and cementing the overall victory for the five-day race.

Trek Factory Racing’s Danny van Poppel had one last opportunity to better his third place in the second stage, but his streak of bad sensations continued Sunday and coupled with the dreary, wet conditions his day ended well before the finale played out.

The final sprint was left to Boy van Poppel to do what he could against some of the world’s fastest on two wheels, and he again mustered a solid 11th place.

Director Adriano Baffi analyzed the stage.

“Danny has not felt good since stage three and today the start was very fast – 47km/h in the first hour – and it was raining and he stopped. However, I think it may be more in his head, but that is also tough to overcome; he is still young and learning.

“We had Boy [van Poppel] to try again in the sprint, and he again had to fight alone and for him to make 11th is at least something to show for our effort today.

“For the week we did not reach our goals, and I can only say that is a little disappointing and we cannot be satisfied. Danny really showed something in the first stages and we had hoped he could make a good result, but after he did not find back the same legs.  Without Danny we did not have many other cards to play, and Boy made a good effort, but honestly his specialty is as helper and he made the best results he could.

“But okay, this is what we had, and overall I can say that the team made the effort. It was hard, fast racing this week and each day ended with a sprint and without Danny in the last stages we did the best we could.”