Enzo Leijnse storms to solo stage victory at Olympia’s Tour

After a few tough days in the saddle, Team DSM’s Development program bounced back in style at today’s fifth stage of the Olympia’s Tour. Enzo Leijnse brought home a great solo victory, after going on the attack in the final 30 kilometres of the day. With this, he takes his first victory in Team DSM’s colours and the first win of the 2023 season for the Development program.

From the beginning on, the weather and strong winds played their part in the race and attacks were flying, without a breakaway really getting a chance from the chasing peloton. During the day, the situation changed multiple times and the peloton changed its size more than once. Going into the final hour of racing, Team DSM’s Vlad van Mechelen and Enzo Leijnse were still up there and looking for their opportunities. With 30 kilometres to go, Enzo attacked with another rider and could get a gap that allowed them to fight for the stage win. Into the final three kilometres, Enzo attacked again and soloed to glory.

Speaking after the race a happy Leijnse said: “Today was another hard day of racing at Olympia’s Tour. As in the last days, we had a lot of rain and wind and the race was split into echelons quite early. When we entered the local laps, we had Vlad and me riding in a smaller group at the front and we started playing the game. I rode away with another guy with 30 kilometres to go and in the end, I could drop him. I am super happy about the perfect work by everyone today and we want to build on that tomorrow and in the next races.”

Team DSM Coach Joey van Rhee added: “Today was a hard day again, with strong winds from the start on. We wanted to be sharp on the echelons and we ended up having Vlad and Enzo in the first group. Enzo felt quite strong the whole day and attacked already earlier in the race. He then did another attack into the last 30km and dropped his companion on a bridge in the final. It was a nice victory for the whole group, after they really improved every day. Nice to have such a nice result, after some great teamwork today.”