Kevin Vermaerke finishes in nice fifth place at Milano - Torino: "I’m disappointed I couldn’t get on the podium today"

This year's Milano - Torino was a promise of open race with unpredictable outcome, and the Italian race lived up to this prediction. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL's Kevin Vermaerke was part of the leading group that found themselves in chase of Alberto Bettiol after the hilly section. In the sprint for third place, Vermaerke grabbed fifth place on the day - a solid result for the 23-year-old American.

"It was a pretty straightforward beginning part of the race, we took control early and put someone in the chase. The team took a good position and looked after me and Casper coming into the final 45 kilometres where the climbs started. Everyone did a really good job leading into the second last climb where we expected it to kick off. I could start the climb in the top five wheels and just follow moves," he expressed in press release.

"When Bettiol went there were still quite a few Bora and UAE guys in the group so I sat in and let them do the work. Coming into the final I thought we would bring Bettiol back but it got tricky in the last three kilometres with the tactics."

"Obviously Bora and UAE had numbers so I had to gamble a bit and play my cards right in the sprint with Bettiol and Christen away. I just couldn’t get out and open up my sprint as I was boxed in a little. I’m disappointed I couldn’t get on the podium today but the legs were really good and we can take confidence from that. With Milano–Sanremo coming up on Saturday we’ll give it another go."