Pascal Eenkhoorn saddened by near-success at Giro "I always thought we were going to make it"

Pascal Eenkhoorn was close to the win at the Giro d'Italia on the 13th stage, however the breakaway in which he was present was caught inside the final kilometer.

He told at the end of the stage that "I always thought we were going to make it. It's a shame that we were caught in the last kilometre." Eenkhoorn was part of the five rider move that went up the road early on, four after the ascent to Colle di Nava where the group's gap grew to over six minutes. Together with Mirco Maestri, Nicolas Prdhomme and Julius van den Berg, the Dutchman rode the final 94 kilometers at an average speed of around 53Km/h - according to his Strava data.

The Dutchman took the most responsibility in the group, and was the one to close down the moves in the final kilometers when the group's coordination started to fail as hopes for the stage win fight ended up sealing the group's faith. "It was a pretty tough final, which went slightly uphill. I don't know if the others had empty legs, but in the last kilometres the cooperation wasn't so good anymore," he said.

"When five of us were ahead, I promptly said that we would have to make the difference on the climb and then defend the lead. Then it was a long way downhill and because we had the wind in our backs, it went very well. We held on well, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough," Eenkhoorn concluded. Since Jumbo-Visma lost the majority of it's GC ambitions, Eenkhoorn has had the freedom to target stage wins, and in the final week he should be amongst the riders looking to attack on the final sprint stage.