The NSN Development Team couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Volta ao Alentejo with Jens Verbrugghe sprinting to a dominant win on stage 1, which sees the Belgian move into the race lead.
21-year-old Verbrugghe praised his teammates’ efforts during the 173-kilometer stage, which he described as “a perfect day”.
“The goal was to make it a bunch sprint so I could go for the stage win,” explained Verbrugghe. “The team did a perfect job not letting a big breakaway go as there were only five riders up the road. We didn’t have to ride much to control the breakaway so we could save energy and with 15 kilometers to go, we knew we had to be at the front. All seven of us were all lined out on the right side in a single line and we also knew it would be a race into the last roundabout.
“Everyone did a perfect job. They protected me until three kilometres to to go, then Ben [Morin] and Zac [Marriage] brought Dawid [Lewandowski] and me into position at around one kilometer to go. We entered the last roundabout first and second with Dawid and from there, I knew I couldn’t miss the opportunity. I wanted to finish off the work my teammates had done. I waited a bit, then launched my sprint at around 250 meters to go, and no one could come past me. It was just a perfect day – everything went exactly as planned in the pre-race briefing. It was amazing.”
With the yellow jersey on his shoulders, Verbrugghe takes confidence going into stage two, which is likely another opportunity for the sprinters.
“It should be another bunch sprint tomorrow,” adds Verbrugghe. “It’s slightly uphill, but still a sprint that suits me well. With the confidence we have now and the strength of the team, we’ll definitely go for the stage win again. I don’t know if it will be me or Zac, but we’ll aim for the win and, if possible, to keep the yellow jersey.”