The Dutch band The Cats made a song about the wind in 1971; “One way wind”. It’s one of the best song The Cats made. 41 years later, it’s again a one way wind, or a one way win if you like.
  
  Groningen Prologue
  Stage 1 was won by Boudewijn Frans. The Belgian time trialist was two seconds faster in the prologue then Cristian Cuéllar who took a shortcut and ignored a red light. Places three to five were for TT-team Nairobi City Cycling Club. Almost all the GC-riders lost a lot of seconds in the prologue and they have to chase in the rest of the Nederlandse Tour.
  
  Groningen - Hengelo
  You would think Jan Joost Dussel have won enough this season, Dussel thinks not. He won the first stage in line. He was able to keep off Izak Van Bethlehem and Lean Ahnfeldt-Mollerup in the sprint in Hengelo. Dussel who won Germany Tour earlier this season by keeping off the climbers, has brought his good shape from Germany to the Nederlandse.
  
  Hengelo - Eindhoven
  No not Van Bethlehem or Ahnfeldt-Mollerup who won the third stage from Hengelo to the hometown of PSV, Eindhoven, but again Dussel. Damm, the former Team Crazy Panda rider, now riding for Team Washo came in second a few meters behind Dussel. Van Bethlehem couldn’t better his second spot from the second stage. He came in third. The fight of the day was between Norman Rule and Earl Fahey. They were battling for the last spot in the GC. Norman Rule won with an excellent sur place.
  
  Eindhoven - Maastricht
  Dussel… Yes, even the fourth stage was won by Dussel. Peddelen’s team didn’t want a break away to win, like last season. There were several attacks and after two hours a breakaway group finally got some space. Manager peddelen gave his team orders to keep the gap to the breakaway small. 7km for the finish the breakaway group got caught by the peloton, and so there was another mass sprint. The hilly stage between Eindhoven and Maastricht could give some time gaps, but it didn’t happen. Dussel decided

to take another win.
  
  Utrecht - Rotterdam
  Izak ‘I can’t win’ Van Bethlehem became second again in the fifth stage. The last victory for team Quick Step Minded he scored in season 16. Van Bethlehem didn’t forget what winning is, because he won the WT race Rotterdam – Amsterdam this season. Ahnfeldt-Mollerup couldn’t warm his engine in the short stage, and became 6th. Spanish Rio Loredo came in third. Oh, the stage was won by Dussel, surprise!
  
  Den Haag - Amsterdam
  Can you count? 1-2-3-4-5! 5 stage wins for Dussel. There was a little surprise in this stage. Van Bethlehem didn’t get a second spot, he became third. Ahnfeldt-Mollerup, the best rider of the season even became sixth. Both riders weren’t able to secure a podium spot in the final ranking. Second in this stage was the Russian Ugolnikov from Team Caridade.
  
  All by all it was a pretty boring Nederlandse Tour. The result from the prologue was promising. The sprinters failed massively and they had to close the gap with the guys who did well in the prologue. The only excitement was to see if Ahnfeldt-Mollerup and Van Bethlehem were able to close the gap to the podium. Eventually they failed in that. So Dussel is the only sprinter on the podium in this Nederlandse Tour.
  
  The biggest surprise of this edition of the Nederlandse Tour is the third place of the 24 year old Cristian Cuéllar. The Spanish rider got a second place in the prologue, this was against all expectations. During the rest of the Nederlandse Tour he was able to keep off the sprinters, except one; Jan-Joost Dussel. The other rider on the podium is Boudewijn Frans. Frans who won the prologue had about the same Nederlandse Tour as Cuéllar. He was able to stay in front of the sprinters except one. However Jan-Joost Dussel as winner of the 11th edition of the Nederlandse Tour isn’t that big of a surprise, but the way he won was overwhelming. He won all the sprint stages, leaving his opponents behind with a cold. Manager pete (peddelen) seems to be

one of the few managers that knows how to handle with the wind.
  
  Everything has an end, even this Nederlandse Tour. Van Bethlehem and Ahnfeldt-Mollerup hoped that the Nederlandse Tour would have been two stages longer so that they could close the gap to the podium, but the Tour has ended. Will the winning streak of Dussel end? It’s hard to say, the only way to stop Dussel seems to be a suspension. The rumors go that Dussel used a ‘new’ type of doping; aicar. People noticed that Dussel was very skinny during the Nederlandse Tour. If they were behind Dussel they could see the rider in front of Dussel straight through him...
  
  General Classification
  1. Jan-Joost Dussel, peddelen
  2. Boudewijn Frans, IGF 31”
  3. Cristian Cuéllar, SierraEspadán 33”
  4. Izak Van Bethlehem, Quick step minded 33”
  5. Ricardo Birch, Nairobi City Cycling Club 34”
  
  Youth Classification
  1. Cristian Cuéllar, SierraEspadán
  2. Daniel Dantas, Shinboners 4”
  3. Macario Gasco, Greenride 6”
  
  Written by pundit Onie from Onie to OCM Magazine