A 6.4-kilometer prologue kicked off the Ster ZLM Toer won by Roger Kluge (IAM Cycling) in a time of seven minutes and thirty seconds.

Danny van Poppel finished in fifth place, six seconds off Kluge’s pace while Marco Coledan slotted in ninth, 10 seconds slower, after sitting in a provisional third place until van Poppel came through four seconds quicker.

“The results are what we expected,” said director Adriano Baffi after the short race against the clock ended. “Danny showed he is in good form, and this should give him a boost of confidence for the rest of the week. He was training hard for this prologue and for him to finish ahead of many of the top sprinters like Greipel and Kittel was nice to see.

“Marco had a good time trial, too. I think we showed we have recovered well from the Giro d’Italia and are ready for the next four days.” 

It was a good start for Trek Factory Racing in the five-day tour that should favor the sprinters for three of its next four stages.

Kristof Vandewalle, still recovering from an injured broken finger he sustained in a time trial crash at the Giro d’Italia, finished well below his normal for the individual test and ended with a time of 7:56.

“Kristof is not yet at 100% after his crash at the Giro, but he will be fine for the next days," continued Baffi. "The idea is to win a stage, either in a sprint or from a breakaway this week. There will be a lot of wind, but today we showed we are strong and we have a very good team here to deal with these special conditions.”