Casper van Uden storms to Ronde van de Achterhoek success for Development Team DSM

Faced with tough conditions and tricky terrain, Development Team DSM rode perfectly to set up Casper van Uden who took the win in a sprint from the late attacking group at Ronde van de Achterhoek.

Development Team DSM were back in action today at the tough Ronde van der Achterhoek, with it’s 204 kilometre long parcours that featured several sections of gravel. It wasn’t only the gravel that would make for a hard day in the saddle, but grizzly and rainy Dutch weather also added to the difficulty.

It was a fast start to the day with lots of unsuccessful attacks before a two rider breakaway managed to get clear, with all of the team in the peloton behind. The break built up a lead that reached a maximum of two minutes but the pace was always high as the gravel sections and kilometres ticked by and they were soon caught back. The team rode really well as a group, rotating through the attacks and making sure that they were always present in any new dangerous group.

Eventually the elastic snapped with Casper van Uden infiltrating a 13 rider move that went clear at 30 kilometres to go. Working well together, the group expanded their gap over the chasers before things came more tactical and a splinter group of five broke away, with Van Uden riding well to make the split. Heading under the flamme rouge Van Uden took up the perfect position in third wheel, biding his time before launching a powerful sprint to take the win, roaring with emotion as he crossed the line in Varsseveld.

“The boys did a mega job today,” beamed Van Uden at the finish. “They kept me well positioned before all the gravel sections and closed gaps when needed. With around 30 kilometres to go a big group went and I jumped across. In the final I just had to go full gas and jumped across again to four others. In the end everyone was tired and I waited until 175 meters and then sprinted full gas and luckily it was enough to win. I’m super pleased to finish it off for the boys!”

Team DSM coach Bennie Lambregts added: “All of the guys did a good job today and we were up there in the peloton for a lot of the day, rotating in the attacks well, especially towards the finish. Casper then did really well in the final part for us to get into the group of 13 that got away. Ideally we could maybe have had one more guy in there, but it worked out perfectly for us in the end and Casper chose the moment well to cover the attack when it split before a really strong sprint in the finish to take the win for us.”