Tom Van Asbroeck finished 16th in the Grand Prix Cerami. The Belgian sprinter felt strong, but ended up leading way too early. Team LottoNL-Jumbo was well represented in the big leading group of the tough race. But four men weren’t able to stop Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) from winning.

“It was looking good today," sports director, Erik Dekker said after the race. “It was a strange race in which a big leading group of 43 riders arose early. We were well represented in that group with five men. Moreno Hofland was dropped afterwards. He was very tired suddenly. Strange, but it’s nothing bad fortunately. The others in the first group were Tom Van Asbroeck, Maarten Wynants, Timo Roosen and Mike Teunissen. Tom was feeling strong, but he started the sprint way too early. He was in bad position.”

“That’s an understatement," Van Asbroeck said. “The sprint was a complete mess. My legs felt good and I was eager, but I ended up in the leading position when we still had 500 metres to go. It went slightly uphill and it was a headwind as well. Philippe Gilbert and Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick Step) were in my slipstream, so I turned into springboard unconsciously.”