Martijn Keizer came within one second of winning the prologue of the SterZLM Toer on Wednesday. The Dutch rider of Team LottoNL-Jumbo had the fastest time for two hours, but was beaten by Robert Kluge (IAM Cycling), who was among the last starters.
 
“Very annoying”, summed up sports director Erik Dekker after the race. “I wanted it so bad for Martijn. He rode a fantastic time trial. He was really working for this time trial and gave everything he had. Martijn thought that he should be able to win it. And he was so close.”

Dekker was doubly satisfied that Maarten Tjallingii and Robert Wagner also delivered good time trials.

“We only expected more from Rick Flens, but he too gave everything. Everyone did. Everyone is really motivated.”
 
“You always have to wait until the last one”, Martijn Keizer said after he had the fastest time for two hours. “We chose to start early after we saw Weerplaza. If some rain was coming, it would have been later in the evening. A lot of the favourites for the win today were not as fast as me, so I started believing in winning this time trial. One of the last riders beat me in the end. That’s a big disappointment.”
 
There won’t be many chances for Keizer to grab the leader’s jersey in the second stage of the Ster ZLM Toer.

“Probably not”, Dekker surmised. “I expect the second stage to be a hectic one. The roads are narrow and, with the local circuit in it, a lot of damage can be done. But I am sure that it will end up in a bunch sprint.”