Archive 2015 - part 1

On Wednesday August 5th Koen and Kaitlin both said yes in their wedding ceremony in Girona, Spain. The wedding took place under the Spanish sun, in a beautiful setting, surrounded by friends and family from different countries. After the ceremony, photographer Wouter Roosenboom took several photographs of the festivities in Girona of the newly weds and their guests. The evening kicked off with the group walking through the centre of Girona led by a Catalan band of drummers to the location of the wedding party. The party went on until the early hours with many speeches and various stories about the bride and groom. It was a day that those present will never forget.

The concluding stage of the Tour on Sunday July 26th from Sèvres to Paris ended in a mass sprint as expected. Due to the slippery conditions on the cobblestones in the city centre, it was decided that the times for the general classification would be taken at the first passage when the peloton hit the circuit through Paris. Afterwards there were ten laps until the mass sprint where the sprinters could show themselves and the classification riders could concentrate on safely making it to the finish. Despite the attempts from Giant-Alpecin, John Degenkolb wasn't able to take the victory. Coming around the final decisive corner onto the Champs-Élysées, Degenkolb was well places but he was passed on both sides by faster sprinters and came home in 8th place. Koen crossed the line in 63rd place. Briton Chris Froome won the Tour. Team leader Warren Barguil finished 14th overall while Koen was 73rd. Giant-Alpecin finished the race with seven of the nine starters. The team took a great stage victory and several high stage placings.

The Tour of 2015 is almost over. On Saturday July 25th the last stage in the Alps was held from Modane Valfréjus to Alpe d'Huez. Koen finished 95th at 20.29' of French rider Thibaut Pinot. On Sunday there's the last stage to Paris.

The stage on Friday from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire - Les Sybelles over 138 kilometres, was diffcult for Koen. Despite he finished in a group of 100 riders he had to go deep to even get in that big group, crossing the line in 75th place at about 28 minutes down on Italian stage winner Vincenzo Nibali. "I suffered", Koen said afterwards from France. "I had to ride really hard to make it to the group. The effort I put in at the front of the peloton yesterday really took its toll today." The stage kicked immediately with a first category Col where many riders were immediately put into difficulty. Due to an ease in the tensions at the front between the classification riders, the main peloton managed to come back together which all had one objective, get to the finish on time. The group did indeed reach that objective, even though it cost alot more for some riders than for others.

Finally the reward for all the hard work came on Wednesday July 22nd: Simon Geschke won the first alpine stage of this year's Tour and delivered the first stage win of this edition of the Tour for Giant-Alpecin. A victory that had been coming close for John Degenkolb and for Simon Geschke on several occasions already but had never yet worked out. Finally on the stage from Digne-les-Bains to Pra Loup over 161 km, Degenkolb and Geschke both managed to join the successful breakaway group of 28 men. After the intermediate sprint at 111 km where Degenkolb took 2nd ahead of Sagan, a first category climb followed where Geschke attacked and broke away alone from his breakaway companions. The riders had already tackled two climbs, a 3rd category and a 2nd category climb. The leading group disintegrated but none of the chasers managed to catch Geschke who had a minute's advantage on the top of the climb. Like an eagle, Geschke descended the wet slopes and he started the final second category climb with an advantage of a minute and a half over American Talansky. Geschke held out and crossed the line 32 seconds ahead. Koen finished the stage in a group, which included Degenkolb, in 81st place 21'05" down on teammate Geschke.

To call the 201 km stage from Bourg-de-Péage to Gap, a real Alpine stage would be perhaps going too far but it was nevertheless a tough stage. Due to the long lead up to the first climb, there were attacks going from the gun and attempts for a breakaway group to form. Giant-Alpecin's objective was to have a rider present in whatever breakaway would form. Despite an average speed int he first hour of racing of over 50km/h, a group of 29 riders did manage to get away. Several riders had to let the leading group go and for some time the leading group split in two but eventually during the first climb a group of 20 riders came together. Among them was Koen's teammate Simon Geschke. Geschke successfully stayed away with the leading group and ultimately came 4th. Spain's Ruben Plaza won the stage with the classification riders crossing the line some 18 minutes later. Koen crossed the line in a large group 25 minutes down in 69th place. Tuesday will be a rest day which will be followed by four alpine stages.

During the 183km stage from Mende to Valence on Sunday July 19th, the Giant-Alpecin team did everything they could to get the most out of the stage. Simon Geschke was very active and managed to make the decisive breakaway group but had the misfortunate that Peter Sagan had joined the group. Several other teams, including Lotto-Soudal of sprinter Andre Greipel, wanted to bring about a mass sprint. As Greipel managed to get through the second category climb at the 126.5 km mark, it did prove to be a mass sprint. Giant-Alpecin played the card of John Degenkolb. But unfortunately Greipel was that bit faster leaving Degenkolb to take second place ahead of Kristof and Sagan. Koen, who brought Degenkolb to the front of the peloton in the final kilometres, finished in 68th place.

Koen was part in a brake away on the stage on Saturday from Rodez to Mende of 178.5 km. Koen was part of a breakaway group of 20 riders who had built up a maximum advantage at one stage of 7 minutes. In the final 40 km there were three climbs; a secondary category climb followed by a fourth category climb and finally the finishing climb which was second category to the finish. On the first two climbs, Koen was able to hold his ground but with 5 km to go, on the final climb, Koen unfortunately had to let the others go. At the front of the group, the two Frenchmen Bardet and Pinot battled one another for the stage win but it was Briton Cummings who, in the final kilometre, managed to claw back to the two Frenchmen. Cummings caught and immediately left behind the two Frenchmen, immediately taking the leading position and taking risks going through the final corners, thereby never holding on to the leading position until past the finish line. Koen held off the charging classification contenders, finishing two minutes ahead of them, in 15th place, 2'12" down on Cummings. After the finish Koen said: “Our goal was to be in the break. Simon [Geschke] already attacked a couple of times and I joined him, which turned out to be the right decision. After 50km the chase efforts of IAM brought us back in the bunch and directly after that I went again. This time we were gone. I enjoyed my day. It was my first time in five Tours that I was part of the breakaway that survives until the finish. I knew that my chances for victory weren’t too big because the finish suited me not so good.”

Tuesday July 14th saw the first mountain stage of the 2015 Tour de France. The stage started in Tarbes and concluded 167 km later at La Pierre-Saint-Martin. The climb to La Pierre-Saint-Martin was classified as a category one. On this climb, classification leader Christopher Froome showed the strength he has to win the Tour. He put massive time into each of his competitors, with teammate Richie Porte finishing in second place at 59 seconds. Koen crossed the line in 101st place, 16'40" down on Froome. Team leader Warren Barguil crashed during the race during the descent of a fourth category climb but only suffered road rash and was able to continue and finish in 15th place 3'19" down on Froome. Barguil is now 9th overall behind Froome.

On Sunday July 12th, the first part of the Tour de France concluded with a team time trial over 28 km from Vannes to Plumelec. The Giant-Alpecin formation completed 28 km in a time of 33.52'. This turned out to be 1.37' slower than BMC Racing Team who bettered Team Sky by a single second. Koen had a bad day and had to drop off the pace earlier on.

The stage on Saturday July 11th went from Rennes to the Mûr-de-Bretagne over 181.5 km. Due to the finish being on the Mûr-de-Bretagne meaning that the majority of sprinters would not be contesting the stage win, the sprinters focused on the intermediate sprint at the 110 km point. At this point, Koen led out the sprint for John Degenkolb for fifth place. This was because a break of four were already up the road. Green jersey wearer Andre Greipel was attentive and outsprinted Degenkolb. After the intermediate sprint, a small group including Koen and Degenkolb decided to make a break but the attempt was to be short lived for the Giant-Alpecin riders. Several teams saw the severity of the situation and quickly set riders on the front. The gap was quickly closed. Several sprinters were part of Koen's break attempt. World champion Michal Kwiatkowski had even been a part of the move. Despite winning the intermediary sprint, Greipel was to lose the green jersey later on in the stage. Not to Degenkolb or Cavendish but to Slovak Peter Sagan. Sagan, the all rounder, managed to hold his ground on the 2km long climb of the Mûr-de-Bretagne with a gradient of 11% to take 4th place. Koen's teammate Warren Barguil finished the stage within the group of classification riders after being helped in the final by two teammates (Geschke and Preidler). Barguil is now 9th overall. Koen crossed the line in 70th place, exactly 2 minutes down on Frenchman Alexis Vuillermoz who surprised everyone with an attack in the final kilometre. Sunday's stage is a team time trial which will be followed by the first rest day of the Tour on Monday.

In the finale of the 190.5km long stage from Livarot to Fougères, the Giant-Alpecin team worked well to try to a stage victory from sprinter John Degenkolb. Unfortunately the German came up short with Mark Cavendish taking the victory ahead of German Andre Greipel and Slovak Peter Sagan.Koen finished the stage in the depleted leading peloton in 90th place. As the leader of the general classification Tony Martin did not start the stage due to injury, Warren Barguil moved up to 10th place in the general classification.

"Some more good teamwork and again just details going wrong. Proud of my boys and the way we fight for one goal. It has to work one day."

Thursday's stage from Abbeville to Le Harve took the peloton 191.5km and would be a tough stage for the pure fast men as the finale contained a short climb. But that was an opportunity for riders with a punch such as John Degenkolb and Peter Sagan. Koen and his teammates brought John to the front in the final few kilometres and Koen even did a good pull on the front of the peloton keeping the pace high. Unfortunately for Giant-Alpecin, Czech Zdenek Stybar managed to escape the peloton when it was strung out on the climb. As Stybar got away, yellow jersey wearer Tony Martin caused a crash in the peloton of which Martin himself was the biggest victim. In the crash Martin took down Koen's teammate Warren Barguil who consequently lost a chance for a nice stage placing and could no longer help Degenkolb. Stybar would hold his ground particularly as Sagan held back in initiating a chase. When the sprint finally erupted Sagan overtook a Katusha rider to finish second. Degenkolb was fourth. Koen, who had been held up by the crash, crossed the line in 74th place. Koen's comment about stage 6: "A lot less stress in the peloton today and good team work to get John in position for the final. Again a good result, we are going to keep trying until we get that win!"

The stage on Wednesday July 8th from Arras to Amiens ended after 189.5 km in a mass sprint but the sprint finish did not deliver the desired outcome for Giant-Alpecin. In the lead up to the line, several teams formed their own respective sprint trains. While this kept the tempo high and the group together for the Giant-Alpecin squad, they did need to launch their train off the front. With about 2km to go, the Giant-Alpecin train started to form but it immediately came to the front with a group of three. Roy Curvers came from behind but still managed to take a long turn on the front but several riders got ahead of him. Koen was able to manoeuvre himself well but unfortunately Degenkolb lost Koen's wheel and dropped back several places. Koen started the sprint but realised that Degenkolb was no longer behind him and quickly came off the front of the peloton. It was German Andre Greipel who won the sprint ahead of Slovak champion Peter Sagan. Coming from a boxed in position, Degenkolb couldn't place any higher than 6th place while Koen crossed the line in 67th place.

The fourth stage of the 2015 Tour de France took the riders from Seraing to Cambrai over 223km, 13km of which was on 7 secteurs of cobbles. Koen's job was to keep teammates Warren Barguil and John Degenkolb well placed entering cobble sections on the narrow winding roads of Northern France. Koen stayed in the leading group and was able to work for Degenkolb and Barguil. Both ended up finishing in the main group, with Degenkolb sprinting to 2nd place before stage winner Tony Martin. Martin had broken away with 5km to go and in claiming the bonification seconds, he took the yellow jersey. Koen crossed the line 43 seconds down. Afterwards Koen said: "it was a judgement error to let Martin get away. I thought the others would go after him, like who let him get away. Getting second place with John is crap."

Giant-Alpecin's hopes to take yellow were dashed on stage 3 when Tom Dumoulin crashed out of the stage. The stage started in Antwerp and finished on the famous Mur de Huy. With 60km to go, a high speed crash took down a large number of riders, including Tom Dumoulin and Ramon Sinkeldam from Giant-Alpecin. Dumoulin had to abandon due to his injuries. The race was neutralised afterwards as all medical support was dealing with the fallen riders. After getting underway, the stage concluded with the Mur climb where Rodriguez held off Froome to take the stage. Giant-Alpecin's Barguil came 17th on the stage, 24 seconds down. Koen crossed the line in 80th place, 3'58".

In the second stage of the Tour de France, which departed from Utrecht and brought the Tour to Neeltje Jans, an artificial island some 166 km later, and the task of the Giant-Alpecin squad was to keep the classification riders Tom Dumoulin and Warren Baguil at the front of affairs along with sprinter John Degenkolb. With about 75 km to go as the peloton just started to enter the province of Zeeland, the whole field blew apart in the winds and the peloton broke into pieces. Barguil and Dumoulin were in the leading group but Degenkolb was placed too far back at the time of the split and ended up in the second group. The rest of the riders from Giant-Alpecin found themselves in this group, except Koen, who ended up in the fourth group. Koen was held up when his shoe broke as he avoided a crash. Getting a replacement shoe cost him his chance to stay at the head of affairs. Groups 2 and 3 joined back together but ahead about 30 riders stayed away. Among the classification riders Christopher Froome and Alberto Contador were present as well as sprinters Andre Greipel, Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish. German Greipel won the stage ahead of Sagan and Fabian Cancellara. Dumoulin came in 8th place. Yellow jersey Dennis missed the move enabling Cancellara to take yellow. Dumoulin moved up to 3rd place behind Tony Martin and is currently leading the young rider classification. Koen finished the stage in a big peloton 5'04" down. Dumoulin will attempt to take yellow on the stage to Huy on Monday.

Koen will be the last rider of Giant-Alpecin to start at time trial in Utrecht. He will start at 17.09 (local time) for his ride of 13.8 kilometres through the city of Utrecht. Results of the time trial can be found here.

Koen will never forget the prologue of the 2015 Tour de France. "It was so amazing to ride in your home country through such a sea of people," Koen said afterwards. "A tunnel of noise all the way from the start to the finish." Koen was the final rider of the Giant-Alpecin team to start his 13.8 km time trial through Utrecht. Koen finished in the stage that was won by Rohan Dennis, in 153rd place, at 1'37" down. Teammate Tom Dumoulin came 4th 8 seconds down on Dennis who won with 14'56" and the only rider to break 15 minutes. Koen had the honour of meeting King Willem-Alexander just before his time trial, who briefly visited along with the mayor of Utrecht.

In Koen's homeplace in Liempde, his neighbours have wished him success ahead of his participation in the Tour de France. On Wednesday morning before the start of the Tour in Utrecht, Koen was led through a completely decorated street in Liempde. Later on Wednesday, the Giant Alpecin squad for the Tour de France was presented to the press. Afterwards the team went to prepare themselves for the start of the biggest race in the world by staying close to Utrecht. The race will kick off on Saturday with an individual time trial over 13.8 kilometres in Utrecht. The first road stage will be on Sunday with a 166 kilometre stage starting in Utrecht and finishing in Zeeland.

On Sunday July 28th, the Dutch National Road Race Championships for professional riders took place. At the start of the race, eight riders broke away and because the peloton was not chasing hard, the leading group built up a large advantage, going as high as 17.40 at its maximum. With such a huge advantage, the peloton ran the risk of being lapped by the leading group on the final 10 laps of the 13.1 kilometre circuit. In that case, a huge group of riders would be taken out of the race, but it did not go that far. The peloton turned on the turbo, made up a good 5.45 kilometres in 50 kilometres time but the break still had time with only 7 km to go. Finally after 250 km the race came to the finish with a sprint from a reduced peloton and where the final slippery corners would play a role. Nikki Terpstrea from Assendelft won the sprint ahead of a teammate of Koen's, Ramon Sinkeldam. Koen, who did not want to take any risks, with the final wet corners once Sinkeldam had been placed on the front, crossed the line in 35th place.

The Tour de Suisse concluded with a 38.4 kilometre time trial. Koen crossed the line in 86th place, 4'57" down on teammate Tom Dumoulin who won with a time of 48'36". Dumoulin was 19 seconds too short to overhaul Slovenian Simon Špilak who added the Tour de Suisse to his palmares. Geraint Thomas finished second at five seconds. Dumoulin finished third. In the overall classification Koen finished in 92nd place.