This Wednesday, April 30th, young Dutchman Huub Artz immediately made his mark on his debut in a World Tour stage race, taking fourth place in the first stage of the Tour de Romandie.
During the prologue the previous day in the streets of Saint-Imier, he made his return to competition one month after his heavy crash in the Brugge-De Panne classic, where he notably suffered broken ribs and a concussion. With the 25th best time, just 9 seconds behind the winner, the 22 year old rider had signaled his excellent condition.
His teammate Gerben Kuypers joined the breakaway of five riders on the first stage between Münchenstein and Fribourg this Wednesday, which featured four categorized climbs. The cyclocross specialist stayed at the front for nearly 168 kilometers in the heat and won the combativity award.
Once the breakaway with Kuypers was caught, a peloton of 70 riders prepared for a technical bunch sprint through the urban streets of Fribourg. Huub Artz survived the difficulties and weaved his way through to maintain a position near the front, and the product of Wanty-NIPPO-ReUz secured his first top result at World Tour level, just off the podium.
“This Tour de Romandie is my first race since my crash in Brugge-De Panne. It was important to survive the climbs today to be able to go for a result, and I’m happy that I managed to do it. In the final it was key to be in front for the descent, because the speed was so high that it was impossible to make up positions. Also the final kilometer was very intense, à bloc, I didn’t even manage to sprint out of the saddle. I just missed out on the podium, nonetheless I am very happy with the result. I’ve been training really hard the past two weeks without knowing what my level was compared to my competitors. It is a really nice feeling to surprise myself with this result in my first World Tour stage race.”
