Team LottoNL-Jumbo had a quiet first stage of the Tour of California in the USA’s west on Sunday. Robert Gesink made it though the Sacramento stage that Mark Cavendish (Etixx – Quick Step) won in a sprint. However, Tom van Asbroeck was unable to make the bunch kick after a hectic run to the finish.

The wind blew, but not enough split the race over the 203 kilometres. Gesink survived.

“Robert only had one puncture, but was brought back to peloton by the team,” sports director, Erik Dekker said. “Other than that, he didn’t face any problems."

“The biggest disappointment was that we weren’t able to be a part of the bunch sprint. Our riders lost each others’ slipstreams because of the hectic last kilometres.”

“I blew it,” van Asbroeck reacted. “I was moving up before the sprint when I had to slow down for another rider. I lost Dennis van Winden’s slipstream, but I was near of Cavendish at that moment. That was a big fight, so I chose to go for the slipstream of Dennis again. We had to slow down too much. As a result, I wasn’t able to be apart of the bunch sprint. That’s a pity.”

The team wants to do better in Monday’s second stage in Lodi, another flat day.

“There will be other chances, for sure,” Dekker added. “We’re able to learn from our mistakes, we can perform better in the second stage of the race, hopefully.”