Mathieu van der Poel: "I just came up short at the end"

Alpecin-Fenix have worked to grab the stage win in Jesi today, and were very close as Mathieu van der Poel put on a storming ride, however they fell just short of it after one team proved stronger at the end.

"It was still a lot. I was short of a bicycle. It was a difficult race. I think I just came up short at the end," van der Poel said in a post-race interview. Alpecin-Fenix didn't shy out of their responsibilities as they paced throughout the day to control the three-rider breakaway. The team also set a hard pace in the final ascent in order to distance the sprinters, a goal achieved with the exception of Biniam Girmay who took the win in the finale.

The Dutchman knew the dangers of the run-up to the line where a solo attack could easily succeed in such a group, and he ended up closing several moves himself, before putting in a dig that proved quite complicated to close in the last kilometers. "What really hurt me was that attack at the end. We had looked on VeloViewer and there the last descent seemed quite technical," he said. That attack may have taken the sting that he lacked in the final meters to go over the Eritrean.

"I had put the whole team in the lead because I said I wanted to attack and only make a difference in the descent. That one was a bit disappointing. I tried to recover, but in the end I was just beaten in the sprint." van der Poel added.

"...Today he rode another strong sprint, because he started from very far and didn't really stop. For a moment I had the impression that I was going over it, but he kept accelerating and I was a bit over it," the leader of Alpecin-Fenix concluded. He will have opportunities in the coming days, however today will come as a disappointment after all the work that has been put in to grab a second win.