News

 

Crash in the Ronde van Vlaanderen

According to first reports, Koen suffered a light concussion after a crash in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Koen started the 255.9 kilometre WorldTour Classic in Brugge as joint team leader with Zico Waeytens in the Giant-Alpecin squad. After 120 kilometres, Koen crashed during a descent after several riders fell in front of him. Koen got back up on the bike but a terrible headache and a loss of concentration made him decide to drop out of the race.

Great 16th place in Gent-Wevelgem

On Sunday March 27th, Koen obtained a great 16th place in the Belgian World Tour classic Gent-Wevelgem. On the final ascent of the Kemmelberg, Koen placed well over the climb and find himself in a group of about 20 riders who chased a leading group of four. The leading group would stay ahead in the finale with Slovak Peter Sagan taking victory ahead of Belgian Sep Vanmarcke. Koen sprinted to 16th place in the chasing group and was first Dutchman ahead of Niki Terpstra, who was 21st.

"Enjoyed suffering next to my teammate from last year @lukamezgec on the Kemmelberg during Gent-Wevelgem today. I felt strong and finished in a group for 5th place. Unfortunately my sprint was far from good so ended up 16th but happy with my feeling now I seem to finally have left the knee problems behind me."

E3 Harelbeke, a day to forget

On Friday March 25th, the World Tour classic the E3 Harelbeke took place. Koen lined up for the 206 kilometre which starts and finishes Harelbeke. The peloton was broken apart on the various climbs and cobbled sections in the finale. There were 15 climbs on the course includeing the Taaienberg, Kapelberg, Paterberg, Oude Kwaremont and Tiegemberg. The breakaway, included Koen's Belgian teammate Bert de Backer, were reeled in early enough and Koen had one of those days to forget when he hit the ground at a bad time as well as several other things. He ended the day in a group that was 9 minutes down on the winner Kwiatkowski, who outsprinted World Champion Peter Sagan, in 68th place.

RIP Johan Cruijff

One of the highlights of my life was meeting him in 2009 in Barcelona during the Tour de France. A big inspiration and a hero.

44th in Milaan-San Remo

Koen lined up in the Italian classic Milan-San Remo on Saturday March 19th. Last year Koen's Giant-Alpecin teammate John Degenkolb managed to take victory in this monument. Degenkolb is still recovering from the training crash that occurred in January in Spain and did not take to the start. Other Giant-Alpecin team leader Tom Dumoulin was unable to start, propelling German Simon Geschke to team leader. Koen stayed with Geschke until the final climb of the day, the Poggio. Koen went over the Poggio in the first group but on the descent there was a small crash breaking the peloton into two pieces. A break that could not be bridged in the depths of the finale. Koen crossed the line in 44th place, 36 seconds down on Frenchman Arnaud Démare who was the fastest after 293 kilometres.

Out of the race earlier than planned

The final stage of Paris-Nice, which started and finished in Nice and took the peloton on a loop of 141 kilmoetres, did not go as planned for Koen. He had trouble with his knee and decided not to take any risks ahead of the upcoming classics. Teammate Tom Dumoulin did not finish at the head of the race in the finale, coming in 22nd place at 1'26"down on Belgian Tim Wellens who took the stage victory ahead of Alberto Contador. Dumoulin fell from 5th to 12th in the overall classification that was won by Briton Geraint Thomas ahead of Contador and Australian Richie Porte.