Gerben Thijssen: "I wanted to show what I'm capable of " after 3rd place in last stage of Baloise Belgium Tour

The Baloise Belgium Tour was concluded this Sunday. Gerben Thijssen finished third in the fifth and last stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour, only behind world-class hitters Fabio Jakobsen and Jasper Philipsen.

“I wanted to show what I'm capable of in the sprint today, especially after my disappointing tenth place in Knokke-Heist. It was a weird race today, because of the several different goals of the other teams," Thijssen said in a post-race interview. "In the end, the race ended in a bunch of sprints, and once more I could benefit from the fantastic preparation work of my teammates. We determined the corner with 2 kilometers to go as an important point, because of the headwind afterward.

"Loïc Vliegen, Quinten Hermans and Boy van Poppel brought me to the front at the right moment, enabling me to sprint for the stage victory against some of the best sprinters in the world. In hindsight, I should have been more daring on the last roundabout to start my sprint in a better position, but this third place makes me confident that in the future I'll be able to rival these top sprinters. I'm very happy with this confirmation ahead of the Belgian championships,” he said.