Frank van den Broek 2nd at Volta NXT Classic after superb team ride

Lining up on home Dutch roads near their Keep Challenging Center in Sittard, Team Picnic PostNL were in action on Saturday at Volta NXT Classic. Starting with a combined squad of riders from their Men and Development programs – everyone was motivated to show their best. From the flag drop it was an intense afternoon of racing with no real breakaway able to establish itself, although that wasn’t through a lack of trying. Jacob Bush made it into a promising early move but that was quickly marked, and after some strong positioning by the team, Robbe Dhondt and Frank van den Broek launched clear in a quartet with 75 kilometres still to go.

However, their gap only peaked at 20 seconds and they were eventually brought back. Attacks and counter-attacks flew, before the race settled into a rhythm for the next hour. Biding their time, Dhondt and Ryan Gal then positioned Van den Broek ahead of one of the steep climbs, who then bridged across with Smith to the leading quartet.

From there, it was a tense final 15 kilometres with the gap only hovering between ten and 20 seconds. Van den Broek contributed several very strong pulls and the front group would just hold on to fight it out for the win. Coming around the final corner onto the cobbles, Van den Broek launched his sprint from the back of the group but Smith just held on to take victory, with Van den Broek picking up a strong second place – a nice reward after a good team ride.

After the finish Van den Broek said: “It was a nice whole day of racing today. I must say the Development program riders were really great today, they really stepped up. Initially Robbe and I were in a good attacking group of four but we were brought back. We then just waited our time and the guys set me up so I could attack with Dion Smith with around 30 kilometres to go, and we made it to the guys ahead. We kept working together in the front group and managed to stay away. I didn’t feel amazing but was confident in my sprint, we’ve been working on that a little. I’m very happy with the second place and proud of the team today.”

Team Picnic PostNL coach Bennie Lambregts added: “We just missed the win but I think with this really young team we had here, and looking at the quality of the rest of start list here, everyone did a great job. We were always in the front and present. We couldn’t have done it better than bringing our finisher Frank into a position where he could go for it in the final; we showed some great teamwork. Also I have to give a big compliment to Frank, he communicated really well with all of the guys and showed some leadership. It was a nice experience for our Development program riders and we can be proud of this podium.”