Maarten Tjallingii showed Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s offensive ambitions in the Vuelta a España, and the veteran Dutchman was part of the main breakaway in the ninth stage. In the end, George Bennett was the first man in black and yellow at the line, and the New Zealander came in 21st on top of the Alto de Puig Llorença.

Tom Dumoulin of Giant-Alpecin won the stage, and the Dutchman also regained the overall lead with his victory.

Tjallingii felt that he had to try to surprise his breakaway companions in the closing kilometres if he wanted to have a shot at success on the tough final climb.

“It was clear that I was going to have a hard time on the climb, so I decided to attack just before the intermediate sprint with 13 kilometres to go,” said Tjallingii. “I thought, that way I’ll at least win that sprint. With a small lead, you never know what can happen on a final climb like today’s. It also provides some extra morale. The climb turned out to be even steeper than indicated in the road book. That is often the case in Spain. All in all, it nevertheless was a nice day. Showing yourself in a grand tour always creates a kind of satisfaction. Hopefully, it’s three times lucky for me as well, just as for Bert-Jan Lindeman.”

“We were in the break again and that was the goal for today,” Sports Director Erik Dekker looked back with satisfaction. “The group was quite large and that was not in Maarten’s favour. In a big group, there is always someone who is faster uphill than Maarten. It was clear that he shouldn’t wait until the final climb, and he didn’t. It the end, we saw it was no day for a breakaway, but Bert-Jan proved that sometimes things fall into place, but sometimes they don’t. So far, we have been in the mix every day. Later in this Vuelta, when the real climbing starts, that’s going to be different.”

Erik Dekker wants to attack again on Monday with his riders.

“We think a break stands a better chance tomorrow. Our goal is clear: getting in the break."