Together with the rest of the peloton, Tinkoff-Saxo faced difficult terrain of twisting roads and punchy climbs on stage 5 of Eneco Tour won by Johan Le Bon. The squad made multiple attempts to fragment the diminishing bunch and finally had Valgren, Juul-Jensen and Rogers in the decimated main group.

Rogers still sits 10th in the GC after stage 5 in Belgium, where Kelderman took the overall lead. According to team sports director Patxi Vila, Tinkoff-Saxo rode an active stage with several attempts to split the pack.

“The stage started out in a frantic pace on tiny, narrow roads that went up and down. Before the stage, I described it as a mini Amstel and we also saw that many riders were very active. We did the first part of the stage at 51km/h, so it was very, very intense. Our strategy was to put Brutt in the break and as it was brought back in, Boaro did another attack. Both of them spent much energy but made it to the finish safely, so they are obviously in a good shape”, says Patxi Vila before adding about the final part of the stage.

“As we went into the second half, we tried to save as much energy as possible with Rogers, Valgren and Juul-Jensen, who made a move as we entered the final circuit with 35km to go. We wanted to create a small, select group and ramp up the pace but nobody went with him. He had a 35 second advantage but let himself get reeled back in. Then the rain started. At some point the visibility was very low and everybody simply tried to survive”.

Despite the attempts, a two-man breakaway made it to the finish, while Rogers remains in the GC top ten.

“A group of five riders chased a breakaway of two guys and they made it to the finish less than half a minute ahead of the main group, where we had Valgren, Juul-Jensen and Rogers. Mick is still in the top ten in the general classification. We will naturally continue to seek the opportunities tomorrow, where the stage also offers difficult terrain”, finishes Patxi Vila.