With in-form sprinter Theo Bos in the line-up, Belkin were the major favourites in this week's two one-day races in Drenthe but the team left both empty-handed. After having missed the selection on Saturday, the team only managed to put Barry Markus into the group that decided yesterday's Dwars door Drenthe.

The Belkin Pro Cycling Team was unable to get in the mix for victory for the second day in a row in the Dutch provence of Drenthe on Sunday. Just as in the Ronde van Drenthe a day earlier, a breakaway held on in Dwars door Drenthe.

Barry Markus gained confidence by winning the sprint of the second group and finishing 11th, but Sports Director Frans Maassen couldn’t be satisfied with that. 

“We were slightly better than yesterday, but we were still not as good as we hoped,” said Maassen. “For a team like Belkin, this was just not enough.” 

Maassen knows what could be the problem. He noted that the riders who rode the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia were not yet fully recovered.

“They have difficulties with the big change of conditions. To go from 35 degrees to windy weather and cobblestones is difficult. You can say that maybe this race was too early for them, but on the other hand, you have to start again at some point. Now they should be ready for Nokere Koerse and Handzame Classic.” 

Markus had to gamble Sunday in Drenthe. Unfortunately for the sprinter, things didn’t go his way.

“Barry was our only rider in the first group in the final and when the group split up, he gambled that everything would come together again. If he would have closed the gap by himself, he knew that he would not be fresh enough to sprint for the victory.”