Steven Kruijswijk finished 24th in the Clasica San Sebastian. The Dutch climber wasn’t able to follow the leading group on the steep last climb of the day. Adam Yates (Orica GreenEDGE) was there and won the classic race.

“I was feeling quite good, but was too timid on the end of the last climb,” Kruijswijk said after the race. “That’s why I missed the split with the first twenty riders. It was an explosive climb and I wasn’t good enough to survive it today. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to return with the leaders on the descent.”

The race plan during the Clasica San Sebastian was to keep Steven Kruijswijk and Wilco Kelderman out of trouble until the foot of the last climb.

“Afterwards, one of them had to have a good day," sports director, Erik Dekker said to the LottoNL-Jumbo website. “We knew that they both weren’t obvious contenders for the top-10, but they both were feeling good during the race. It wasn’t good enough to play a decisive role today, unfortunately.”

Maarten Wynants’ part of the team’s effort was a striking one. He was one of the riders in the early breakaway and was still able to help his front men afterwards.

 “Maarten did a really good job today,” Dekker continued. “He was attentive in the beginning of the race and held on for a long time afterwards. He was even good enough to fight back after the penultimate climb and bring some bottles of water to Wilco and Steven. He brought them to a good position before the foot of the climb as well. That was nice to see.”