Tim van Dijke plans to try to improve his fourth place from stage 13: "I will definitely go for it again"

Tim van Dijke was supposed to be enjoying a well-deserved rest at home after a busy spring, but instead the Dutch rider is conquering mountain passes in Italy without greater purpose with Team Visma | Lease a Bike's leaders; Olav Kooij for sprints and Cian Uijtdebroeks for mountains already out of the action.

In team's press communication, the 24-year-old remembers Kooij's victory in stage 9. "It almost felt like I had won myself, I was so proud of Olav and the team. From those first competitions with the Development Team in Eastern Europe to winning a bunch sprint in the Giro: what a journey we have traveled together," he recalls his modest beginings in 2020.

Now with the team reduced to a half, the roles have changed from original plan. That means more freedom for Van Dijke, but also "The fact that he and Cian were gone was of course a huge disappointment. Our two leaders disappeared within two days. And yet we really had the feeling that many beautiful things were still to come."

As a sprint substitute for absent Kooij, Van Dijke sprinted to 4th on stage 13, did that surprise him? "Well actually yes. I know that if I can carry myself well in the last two kilometers, I should be able to finish in a nice top ten. In the end I even felt that I might have been able to reach the podium, but of course I was also very happy with fourth place. That came very unexpectedly," he told In de Leiderstrui.

There should be two more opportunities for sprinters on eighteenth stage and then the arrival to Rome. For Van Dijke perhaps another attempt at cracking the podium? "I will definitely go for it again, with the self-confidence of the last sprint. We'll see!"