Wearing the Dutch champion’s jersey, Danny won the final stage of the tour through his home country, fulfilling a big dream.
A Dutch cyclist doesn’t get many chances to perform in front of a home crowd and then win. But Danny did it. The 32-year-old from Moergestel won the final stage over 158 kilometres around Arnhem. But not in a bunch sprint, as one might expect from Danny, but as a breakaway rider.
Eleven kilometres before the finish, Danny took a risky step that paid off. The existing three-man leading group was only a handful of seconds ahead of the peloton when he attacked and jumped to the front. The Dutch champion’s fresh energy gave the group a new lease of life. The gap grew again, and the peloton lacked a strong team to chase down the breakaway. The quartet held on to a few seconds’ lead to the finish line, where Danny once again impressively showed off his sprinter’s legs in his last race of the season, which also earned him the bonus of victory in the points classification.
Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe had already been riding actively throughout the day. Rookie Theodor August Clemmensen was part of the first breakaway group of the day. When it was caught, Jan Tratnik set off on a solo attack. The second rookie in the team, Romet Pajur, had saved his energy for a lead-out for Danny. Jonas Koch, the fifth starter, did not finish the fourth stage.
Danny van Poppel: “This is amazing, I still can’t believe it. When I win, it’s usually in a bunch sprint. But today it was such a crazy move. But anyway, a win is a win. The four of us at the front formed a really strong group. Still, I was really exhausted when we reached the finish line. Luckily, there was that little descent shortly before where I was able to recover. I had already considered joining Jan’s attack, but then decided against it. But I had to come up with something if I still wanted to win, because Tim Merlier had such a strong team here and it would have been really difficult to beat him.”
DS Christian Pömer: “We tried to create a last-dance atmosphere within the team, because it was the last race day of the year for the group. The idea from the outset was to always be one step ahead of the other teams. Theo was then tasked with being in the first leading group. He was involved in every move and did a fantastic job. That gave us the chance to ride relaxed at the back. When the group was then caught, Jan had the same goal. In the final, a group had gone without us. But then, with two laps to go, we noticed that the sprinter teams were struggling to close the gap again. That’s why I told Danny to be creative in the final. When things got tight, we were about to join in the chase, but Danny realised that it was a good time to be creative. The final was exciting cycling. Before that, it was great teamwork.”
