Archive 2015 - part 2

On Saturday October 24th, Koen was in Japan to race the Saitama Criterium. This 60km race in Japan is organised by ASO, the organisers of the Tour de France and many important races. Koen joined three German teammates (Frohlinger, Geschke, Degenkolb) on invitation from ASO. Degenkolb was part of the decisive move and won ahead of Japan's Fumiyuki Beppu and Briton Christopher Froome. Koen crossed the line in 20th place. Earlier on in the day Koen had taken part in a points race where he came 8th.

On Sunday October 18th, Koen was in the Netherlands in Utrecht to take part with Giant-Alpecin's team day at Bike Motion as well as taking part in Ride with the Pros. The Professional Cyclists Union, the biggest Dutch cycling teams and the trade fair all came together during the Ride with the Pros, an event where cycling enthusiasts are able to ride alongside Dutch Pros. The riders from Team Lotto-Jumbo, Team Giant-Alpecin and Team Roompot Oranje Peloton were present in Utrecht during the event. It is an event where everyone, young and old, can join in with the real professionals: "We came up with a tour of about 85 kilometre, from the city of the 'Le Grand Départ', Utrecht, as the starting point", VVBW-chairman Bobbie Traksel said. "At the start of the 'Village Départ' of the trade fair there was all the buses and cars of the teams that took part and partipiants received all sorts of tips from the carers and mechanics. During the cycle the profs rode along, so you can cycle right next to talents such as Dumouliln and Gesink."

On Sunday October 11th, the UCI 1.HC classic Paris-Tours took place. Starting in the Paris suburb of Chartres the race brought the peloton some 231 kilometres to Tours. After only a few kilometres, a group of 31 men broke away from the peloton, and within no time the group had an advantage of four minutes. Five Dutchmen were in the leading group including Koen's teammate Roy Curvers. With about 50 kilometres to go, part of the group, including Niki Terpstra, attempted to reduce the size of the group and broke off. The chasers never managed to get back on terms and close the gap. Three riders managed to break away from the leading group in the finale. Eventually Curvers sprinted to a fine 14th place. Koen ended up not finishing his final race of the season in Europe.

On Tuesday October 6th, the 196 kilometre classic Binche - Chimay - Binche / Mémorial Frank Vandenbroucke took place in Belgium. Giant-Alpecin was well represented in the group of 40 riders that formed after various groups had come together. Niki Terpstra was the only one to make a realistic effort. After several Giant-Alpecin riders, including Koen, together with IAM Cycling, worked together on the front of the bunch, Terpstra was caught with just about 2 kilometres to go. Koen's teammate Ramon Sinkeldam placed an acceleration at 800 metres to go and managed to stay out. Pim Lighart from Lotto-Soudal came second two seconds down. Koen crossed the line in 36th place 1'10" down on Sinkeldam.

Koen took part on Saturday October 3rd in the UCI 1.HC classic in Germany the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro. This one day classic starts in Ibbenbüren and goes to Münster over a distance of 179.9 kilometres. After about four hours of racing, the day ended in a mass sprint. The finale was marked by a crash at about 1.5 kilometres to go. Giant-Alpecin rode for German Nikias Arndt, because sprinter Marcel Kittel, who will depart the team at the end of this year, had already dropped out of the race. Arndt sprinted behind Beglians Tom Boonen and Roy Jans to third place. Koen crossed the line in 70th place.

On Saturday September 19th, the UCI 1.1 classic the Primus Classic Impanis - Van Petegem took place in Belgium. With 25km to go of the 199.6 kilometre race, the group of four early breakways were caught. In the finale, one rider managed to just managed to stay ahead of a group of 45 riders. Koen was in this big group and crossed the line in 28th place.

After the penultimate stage of the Vuelta being a tough day for Giant-Alpecin, the concluding 98.8 kilometre stage from Alcala de Henares to Madrid turned out to be a party. John Degenkolb took the mass sprint for stage honours. After several Giant-Alpecin riders rode on the front of the peloton, including Tom Dumoulin, to keep the breakaway groups under control, Luka Mezgec started the final kilometre with Koen and Degenkolb in Koen's wheel. With about 600 metres to go, Mezgec pulled off from the front and Koen sprinted full on. With about 250 metres to go, Koen pulled off and Degenkolb took over, staying ahead of the rest and resisting a late challenge to take the win that he had waited 21 days for. Koen crossed the line celebrating in 27th place.

The penultimate stage from San Lorenzo de El Escorial to Cercedilla over a distance of175.8 kilometres was too much for Tom Dumoulin. The Limburg man did not have the legs on the third climb of the day that he had earlier in the race. Dumoulin was unable to answer a second attack by Aru. An exhausted Dumoulin would lose so much time that he fell to 6th in the general classification. A result that before the race he would have signed for as the Giant-Alpecin squad came to the Vuelta only for stage wins. And with two stage wins, the team has achieved that objective. The great ride by Dumoulin in the overall classification was the icing on the cake. Koen finished the stage in 102nd place at 19'43". Tomorrow's stage concludes the Vuelta and will be Giant-Alpecin's final chance to get win a stage. This time not for Dumoulin, but for John Degenkolb.

In the stage from Medina del Campo to Ávila over 185.6 kilometre on Friday September 11th the riders of Giant-Alpecin worked themselves to the bone for team leader Tom Dumoulin to keep the leader's red jersey of the Vuelta. Just as the day before, a big breakaway group formed. Frenchman Gougeard broke out of this group to take the stage victory. The riders from Giant-Alpecin rode on the front until the final climb, a 2nd category climb, when the Movistar team of Quintana and Valverde took over, numbers 5 and 6 of the overall classification. A little later they decimated the field during a strong side win, thinning out the peloton and Koen was quickly dropped. Dumoulin was still supported by Lawson Craddock and John Degenkolb. Degenkolb was dropped just before the summit of the climb but managed to regain contact on the descent. On the climb to Ávila over the cobbles in the final 2 kilometres, the Giant-Alpecin squad delivered a surprise. Degenkolb upped the tempo, Craddock took over and then Dumoulin put in an attack, ultimately dropping Aru and putting three seconds into him on the line, doubling his slender advantage to six seconds. Dumoulin was 25th at 16'18" from Gougeard. What was more important was the mental tick that Dumoulin gave to Aru. Koen, crossed the line in 58th place, 18'06" down. Koen had hit the ground half way into the stage, the same time that several Astana riders including Aru were taken down.

The stage on Thursday September 10th started in Roa and took the peloton some 204 kilometres to Riaza. 25 riders formed the day's breakaway. Giant-Alpecin kept a high pace that worked well. With a first category climb in the finale, several other teams did attempt to increase the pace to close the gap to the breakaway. On the final climb, Lawson Craddock, Koen and even John Degenkolb stayed as long as possible in the group while Aru's Astana squad set the pace. After Movistar took over the lead of the peloton, Dumoulin's teammates were dropped but it didn't matter as Dumoulin was solid in Aru's wheel. The Italian tried to drop Dumoulin on the climb but Dumoulin wouldn't concede an inch. After the descent there was a small climb where Dumoulin answered an attack by Aru. Ultimately they would cross the line together in the group racing for 4th place, at 38 seconds down from Irish stage winner Nicolas Roche. Koen crossed the lin in 55th place at 8'45 with John Degenkolb in 36th place, but at 2'17". „If I look at the team around me, I see that everyone is performing out of their skin”, Koen said in an interview with De Telegraaf. „This is the chance for us as a team to show something special. The way people say that Dumoulin doesn't have a team, just makes us stronger. Then we want to show that we are able to do this. As far as I'm concerened, we're ready for the battle. Of course it is stressful. We have to stay 100% concentrated and that costs a huge amount of energy. But we only have a few days to go. If Tom can do this, I don't know when or where Aru will be able to drop him.”

The day after the rest day, and Koen's birthday, an individual time trial over 38.7 kilometres followed on Wednesday September 9th. The time trial that the entire cycling mad Holland watched. In this stage, time trial specialist and general all rounder, Tom Dumoulin could take the leader's jersey. Koen's teammate managed to live up to the expectation and closed the gap to the leader's jersey. Italian Fabio Aru is now 2nd overall, only three seconds down. The leader of earlier today, Spaniard Rodriguez conceded 3'06" and is now 3rd overall at 1'15". Koen came 62nd on the stage, 4'21" down on Dumoulin. The coming days will be quite nervous for the Giant-Alpecin squad in the battle with Aru's Astana. Especially Saturday's stage is very tough with four big climbs.

In the 185 kilometre stage from Luarca to Ermita de Alba. Quirós the final of 3 consecutive mountain stages, Tom Dumoulin was managed the damage with an eye on still making the final podium. Dumoulin relinquished 27 seconds to Joaquin Rodriguez who managed to wrestle the leader's jersey off Fabio Aru by two seconds. Koen stayed with Dumoulin for as long as he could, just like many of his teammates, and finished the stage in 84th place, 29'05". It was the final uphill finish of this year's Vuelta.

The climb with 4 kilometres to go to the line of the almost completely flat stage from Estepona to Vejer de la Frontera looked like a little bump on the stage profile sheet but this little bump managed to deprive all pure sprinters from any hope of a mass sprint at the finish. The climb to Vejer de la Frontera was very steep. There was an attempt of a breakaway but the classification riders and several all rounders climbed together. And just as a group were riding to the finish, another punchy climb presented itself enabling Spaniard Alejandro Valverde to beat Slovak Peter Sagan. Koen's teammate Tom Dumoulin took 11th place and maintained his 2nd place overall. Koen crossed the line in 95th place at 3'44".

The third stage of the Vuelta took place on Monday August 24th taking the peloton 158.4 km from Mijas to Málaga. Despite containing a first category climb half way into the stage, the race still ended in a mass sprint. The riders from Giant-Alpecin produced a perfect lead out for in the final kilometres with Koen being the final lead out man for John Degenkolbin. Unfortunately Slovak Peter Sagan and Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni were just a bit faster than Degenkolb who had to settle for third place. Koen crossed the line in 24th place.

The second stage of the Vuelta went from Alhaurín de la Torre to Caminito del Rey over 158.7 kilometres. Giant-Alpecin rode for team leader Lawson Craddock with Tom Dumoulin given a free role. Dumoulin seized the opportunity of the role. When Koen left Craddock by the first ten riders at the foot of the final climb, a 3rd category, Dumoulin was among the leading group too. The Limburger put in an attack on the final climb and was joined by several rides. Venezuelan Johan Esteban Chaves struck out in the final kilometres and Dumoulin managed to hang on while Ireland's Nicolas Roche was dropped. Chaves took the stage ahead of Dumoulin who demonstrated that he would have been well up to the task of taking the yellow jersey in the Tour stage to Huy. Craddock finished a minute and a half behind the favourites in 37th place. Koen crossed the line at 9'03" from Chaves in 96th place. Later this was amended to 95th place when Vincenzo Nibali was disqualified due to holding on to his team car in the chase.

The 2015 edition of the Vuelta a Espana kicked off on Saturday August 22nd with a team time trial on a 7.4 kilometre course from Puerto Banús tp Marbella. As the time trial route was so poorly chosen for a World Tour race, several riders had already complained. Consequently it was decided that the team time trial would not count for the general classification. Many teams decided not to take any risks in the test, including Koen's Giant Alpecin squad. They finished in 19th place, 1'07" down on winners BMC.

The Dutch national team selection was announced on Thursday August 20th for the upcoming World Championships which will take place in Richmond in the USA. Koen is not on the nine man selection and expressed his frustration on Twitter, asking :To say I'm disappointed not to be in Richmond is an understatement. What do I need to do to show that I can make a leader get a top result?