Roy Curvers was a part of the first day’s breakaway at the Tour du Haut Var, in a group of five riders that spent the day at the front of the race, before he was eventually caught with 3km to go.

The up and down testing opening stage in France suited the breakaways, and the wet weather conditions favoured their chances so a presence at the front of the race was important for the team. One rider from this lead group managed to remain out front to the end as Ben Gastauer (AG2R) held on to the the stage win and overall lead on the final climb of the day, with a small seven second gap over the first group containing Chad Haga and Zico Waeytens.

Behind the break, the Giant-Alpecin' focus was towards Haga who was positioned together with Luka Mezgec for the final two climbs of the day. At the base of the final ascent Mezgec and Waeytens dropped Haga off into a strong position but Haga was unable to move up, boxed in and losing momentum, eventually coming over the line outside of the top 20.

After the stage, coach Aike Visbeek said: “We planned to race offensively and to get in the break today and Roy eventually made the breakaway of five riders. This helped take the pressure off behind and meant that the guys could work together to make sure that Chad and Luka were well positioned for the final two climbs of the stage.

“They positioned themselves well and then got Chad into position for the last climb but when he wanted to move up a rider coming backwards blocked his way and he lost momentum here, costing him for a good result at the end.”