Lonardi 5th and Maestri “full gas” in the last stage of the ZLM Tour

The final act of the ZLM Tour is once again characterized by the peloton splitting and several riders crashing. A blender from which Mirco Maestri emerges: the Polti Kometa captain manages to take away twelve men with him halfway through the race, capable of resisting until ten kilometers from the finish. During the breakaway Mirco remains in the virtual GC second place for a long time, but the peloton’s comeback forces him to settle for an excellent overall 11th place, conquered with the opening ITT and then consistently maintained.

Sprint epilogue, or rather not, as Salby (Bingoal) sneaks ahead of the sprinters less than 500 meters from the line. However Giovanni Lonardi finishes 5th and closes 3rd in the points classification, crowning a week always among the best. Finally, it’s worth noting the withdrawal of Javier Serrano due to a slight illness that was felt during this last Dutch day, but that won’t prevent him from participating in the upcoming commitments.

Lonardi: “It’s a flat race but made tough mainly by the wind, today for example we were all on the right in the sprint and I didn’t anticipate as I would like. However the top-10 achieved in every road stage here remain, let’s go on!”

Maestri: “I tried to overturn the standings, but the crash of the yellow jersey Herregodts (Intermarché) at km 100 has somewhat ruined the plans because he and his team started pulling to catch us. The important thing is to have given my and our all and to have perceived a good condition ahead of the Italian championships.”

Sports director Biagio Conte: “We always attacked without being surprised by the echelons, in the end we bring home a good result and the usual attitude of our team.”