Dylan van Baarle has been really impressive in his first professional season but until now he has mostly been working as a domestique for his Garmin-Sharp teammates. Today he proved his potential when he was narrowly beaten into second by Philippe Gilbert in the Ster ZLM Toer prologue.

Having performed really strongly in the cobbled classics, Dylan van Baarle has done a to make the world aware of his talent during his first professional season but until now his strength has been hard to read from the result sheets. Having mostly been riding in service of his Garmin-Sharp teammates, the talented Dutchman has had few chances to go for glory himself.

Having abandoned the Giro d'Italia after two weeks - which was part of a pre-race plan - he may get a chance to ride for himself in this week's Ster ZLM Toer. Today he got the race off to a great start when he finished second in the prologue, having been beaten by less than half a second by former world champion Philippe Gilbert.

"When I left the Giro d'Italia early, this was my first goal," he told CyclingOnline.nl. " In hindsight, I may have lost something in the turns as I took them like a beginner. This is probably a consequence of a crash in a turn at the Giro d'Italia which has caused me to lose confidence. But after the race, you are always looking for mistakes.

"I am satisfied. This proves that my legs are good. This is a good confidence boost for the Dutch TT championships where I hope to be an outsider for the podium."