Team Picnic PostNL triumphant with Nils Eekhoff after cobbled action at Nokere Koerse

Team Picnic PostNL secured a brilliant win on Wednesday afternoon, where a good team ride throughout the day saw Nils Eekhoff in position to put the power down on the uphill kick to the line.

A hectic day of racing over the twisting narrow roads, cobbles and punchy drags lay ahead of Team Picnic PostNL at Nokere Koerse. Riding well as a group throughout the race, good positioning work by the team ensured that Nils Eekhoff, Pavel Bittner and Patrick Eddy made the reduced peloton with around 30 kilometres to go. On the run in to the finish more attacks flew but Team Picnic PostNL remained calm and things regrouped, as the race charged towards the line. Coming into the final kick up to the line, both Eekhoff and Bittner eased their way through the pack and moved forward. With the road rising and the finish gantry in sight, Eekhoff kicked hard and no one was able to come around him; where he could sit up and celebrate a magnificent win with Team Picnic PostNL. It’s a particularly poignant win as not only is it Eekhoff’s first road race win, but also the race marked his return to action by a lot of hard work from him and those at the team after his crash in AlUla Tour.

A delighted Eekhoff said: “It’s a pretty important win, it’s my first pro win in a stage that’s not just a TT. I’m really happy to finish it off today; we rode well as a team throughout I think. It was a couple of hard weeks after the crash in AlUla Tour but we got through it and I’m pretty stoked to make this comeback. It was a long drag on the uphill and I was positioning Pavel. The guys in front of me went from far and then they started dying on the wheels a bit. I waited for a while and then just went for it and it didn’t look back. I’m really happy to take this win with the team, it means a lot.”

Team Picnic PostNL coach Roy Curvers added: “We invested a lot as a team to have Pavel and Nils always in a good position going into the important points and sectors. On the last lap we missed a crucial break but luckily Pat could sacrifice himself to close the gap alongside guys from a few other teams and it came back together. Nils could then time his effort best on the tricky finish slope and we take a brilliant win. Nils put in so much hard work the last weeks since his crash at AlUla Tour, so if somebody deserved this win, then it was him!”