Danny van Poppel has become Dutch national road race champion for the first time in Ede. Favorite Olav Kooij seemed to time his sprint on the Arnhemseweg the best, but was beaten by Van Poppel at the very last moment.
Van Poppel had finished third in Emmen in 2015 and second in Hoogerheide in 2018, behind Mathieu van der Poel. One year later, also in Ede, he finished second after Fabio Jakobsen, only to be demoted for irregular sprinting.
“So I had something to make up for here,” Van Poppel said, after finally claiming the national road championship. “Unbelievable, I never thought this would happen.”
But Van Poppel did realize that he could beat Kooij and defending champion Dylan Groenewegen in the sprint. “I come here to win or not at all. You have to have confidence.” Groenewegen finished in third place after Van Poppel and Kooij.
Expected mass sprint after four laps
That the 163-kilometer-long race with start and finish in Ede would result in a sprint, just like the women’s race, was obvious. Yet a group of eight riders tried to break away.
Koen Bouwman and Taco van der Hoorn were the most notable names in this group of eight. They never got more than one minute ahead of the peloton. In the last of the four laps, the breakaway was caught.
With just over 20 kilometers to go, there was a surprising attack by Mike Teunissen and Tim van Dijke. Their lead fluctuated around 15 seconds for a while, but did not last. After that, there were a number of attack attempts, including by Bauke Mollema (38), but they were all countered, especially by the Visma block.
So there was indeed a sprint on the Arnhemseweg. Kooij was alone, but seemed to be on his way to victory. Groenewegen could no longer pass him, but Van Poppel did pass him just before the finish line.
In this way, he succeeded in doing what his father Jean-Paul van Poppel had never managed to do: winning the red-white-blue champion’s jersey. The newly crowned Dutch champion can also go to the Tour de France in a week, where he will lead out the sprint for Jordi Meeus.