Moreno Hofland finished seventh Thursday in the second stage of the Ster ZLM Toer. The 23-year old Dutchman was beaten to the line by Lotto-Soudal’s André Greipel, who took the lead in the overall thanks to his win.

The stage between Rosmalen and Den Bosch was led by five attackers. On the finishing circuit, they were caught, after which the race exploded and the peloton split. Hofland and Maarten Tjallingii were part of the first group.

“The roads on the local lap were narrow,” said Hofland. “The wind and the fact that some smaller teams are struggling caused the splits in the peloton. I was at the front all day, which was a good thing."

“I started my sprint from too far behind,” Hofland continued. “I knew a gap would open up in the meandering corner at the end and I wanted to take advantage of that, but just when I wanted to accelerate into it, someone came from behind.”

Sports Director Erik Dekker was for from pleased with only Hofland and Tjallingii being in the first group.

“I was not happy when I heard that. In my opinion, we should have been up there with eight riders. The men agreed with that afterwards. This isn’t a World Tour race and that means you’ll get chances. It’s a good thing that Maarten and Moreno can still play a role in the overall over the next few days.”
 

The third stage of the Ster ZLM Toer starts in Buchten, The Nederlands, and the peloton heads to the south of Limburg where some classic hills will be tackled, such as the Cauberg, Bemelerberg, Loorberg, Camerig, Gulperberg and Eyserbosweg. After that, the riders head back to Buchten, where after just over 190 kilometres, they will finish on a flat final stretch.

“Big time differences arose in the overall today, and that means a break perhaps could get more space tomorrow,” Dekker said.