"I waited quite a long time" - Nils Eekhoff thrilled with debut pro win at ZLM Tour prologue

Nils Eekhoff has been coming up the ranks over the last few years as a talented rouleur and classics rider, however he was yet to take his first pro win. That barrier was broken last night at the ZLM Tour as he flew to victory on the prologue.

“I waited quite a long time for my first pro win, so I’m really happy. I went pretty deep," Eekhoff said in a press release. "There was tailwind so I went super fast, but near the finish there was a headwind. That made it quite tough, but I pulled through it well. I trained hard the last weeks and felt good – and prologues suit me. But super happy to take it home.”

Team DSM dominated the stage, taking a one-two as Alex Edmonson finished second to Eekhoff, only one second behind - as did Olav Kooij. To maintain this lead will be a very hard challenge as the four coming days are pan-flat, and the sprinters will have plenty bonus seconds available to climb up the GC.

“We saw a dedicated team today who were all determined to go full; but a TT is a complicated thing when it comes to the science behind it, and knowing we have a lot of people putting in big efforts on this side, bringing a result home like this is a big compliment for all involved," team coach Roy Curvers added.