The final day of racing at the Tour Alsace saw the Development program take on a predominantly flat 158 kilometres from Mulhouse to Berrwiller; albeit with several small rolling hills throughout the day. It was an attacking start to the stage with lots of moves trying to go clear but eventually a break of four managed to escape and the race settled into a rhythm.

With all Team DSM riders in the peloton focus remained on staying safe while helping to make sure that the breakaway’s advantage didn’t get too big; with the aim of setting up finisher Casper van Uden for the finale. As the kilometres ticked by first Joost Brinkman, then Enzo Leijnse, did a great job to help set tempo in the peloton and heading into the finale the race was all back together.

A flurry of new attacks made the run in more hectic with Hannes Wilksch and Patrick Eddy trying their best to bring Van Uden into a good position. Coming out of the final corner they had dropped Van Uden in around third wheel but as the sprint opened up he got blocked a little bit. Trying to kick again and come out into space, Van Uden had to ultimately settle for fifth place on the line.

“We wanted to go for a sprint finish today,” explained Van Uden. “The boys worked really hard and I want to thank them a lot. Unfortunately, I made a little mistake in the finale and couldn’t sprint for the win anymore.”

Team DSM coach Boris Zimine added: “The plan was clear today, we wanted to be all around Casper and set up a sprint. The whole team worked really hard at the start of the stage to control things and make sure that it was a break of less than five riders who went. After that Joost helped to control things and he did that really well until 20 kilometres to go – it was a really good experience and learning day for him. The whole team then went full for the lead out with Casper but in the last 800 metres the race was a bit hectic and we made some mistakes, with Casper finishing fifth in the end.