The Ster ZLM Toer got underway with a 6.4km evening prologue in Goes today. The victory would go to Robert Kluge (IAM Cycling), he was able to best Martijn Keizer (Lotto-Jumbo) and Victor Campenaerts (Topsport Vlaanderen) to take the top step of the stage podium as well as the race leaders jersey.

The short prologue has never really been the strongest discipline for MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung, although Jaco Venter has notched up a few good results against the clock over the last two years. Today would not be his day though as he crossed the line 28 seconds down on the stage winner. The fastest finisher for the African team was the young Nic Dougall, coming home in 34th, just 20″ seconds from the stage victory. A good performance by the young South African.

As prologues go though, they are short and fast and so no large amount of time is ever really lost in the GC battle. All the other Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung riders got around the course in one piece and now look forward to the 4 upcoming road stages, each of which the African team will be able to poise a real threat for stage honours.

"I was hoping for a better prologue performance today. Things didn’t really go according to plan for me out on the route but it is only the start of the race. We have a good team here so I am hoping for better over the next few days," Venter said.