Timo Roosen finished 12th in the difficult tenth stage of the Vuelta a España on Monday. The first-year pro tried to attack the reduced peloton under the flame rouge, but the pace was too high, and the 22-year-old Dutchman wasn’t able to create a gap.

MTN-Qhubeka’s Kristian Sbaragli won the stage, and Italian was the fastest man of the day in the streets of Castellón. Tom Dumoulin of Giant-Alpecin held the lead in the general classification.
 
“It was quite tough today,” Roosen said. “At first, my legs didn’t feel really strong, but I recovered well along the way and I was able to follow the peloton over the two climbs. In the final kilometres, I spoke with George (Bennet, ed.) and we decided that I was going to sprint. He did a good lead-out, but when the pace dropped, I attacked. It was a rash decision and looking back, I don’t think it was the best choice, because I didn’t get away. I still finished 12th, but I could have done better.”
 

Sports Director Merijn Zeeman and Erik Dekker praised Roosen’s result.

“It is quite amazing that Timo was able to do this, on the tenth day of this Vuelta,” Zeeman said. “He’s a talent that we want to guide to the top and we already see that he’s developing. After the stage, he was somewhat critical of himself because of that attack, but we don’t blame him. He’s allowed to ride freely, and he will learn from that.”

The rest of the team also earned compliments, according to Zeeman.

“In the opening kilometres, the racing was on again, but with George Bennett and Martijn Keizer, we had two man in the initial big break. Tom Van Asbroeck and Dennis van Winden were strong as well. They could not follow the pace on the climb, but almost made it back. You do not see that on television. The Vuelta is good learning experience for our young men. It’s great to see the involvement of experienced men like Maarten Tjallingii and Maarten Wynants as well.”

Zeeman is satisfied when it comes to the first week.

“We have shown real fighting spirit. We only missed out on the break on two days, and we have won a stage. Erik and I are proud of the guys.”
 

The peloton enjoys a rest day Tuesday after ten hard days of racing. The riders will use their day off to prepare for the very tough mountain stage Wednesday in Andorra, when they’ll tackle six major climbs.

“It’s going to be an epic stage,” Zeeman said. “That’s good for the development of our young men, because in every grand tour there are days like these. When we get though the day well, we can look forward again and focus on stages in which we can go into the offensive again.”