The Belgian Champion posted the sixth-fastest result on the rain-affected stage 2 of the BinckBank Tour.
Voorburg hosted the individual time trial of this year's BinckBank Tour, and it couldn't have been a more fitting location for the 9km-long race against the clock, as the small town in the province of South Holland was once home to Christiaan Huygens, the inventor of the pendulum clock, which for nearly three centuries was the world's most precise timekeeper.
The course of Tuesday's stage wasn't very technical, but heavy rain made it really dangerous and that's why all the riders who rolled down the ramp, bar the first 15-20 who enjoyed dry roads, couldn't go full gas and preferred to lose seconds and stay upright on the slick pavement instead of taking risks which could have very well spelled the end of their race and ambitions.
For Quick-Sep Floors' Yves Lampaert, this was the first outing in an individual time trial since riding to a maiden victory at the Belgian Championships, one month and a half ago; the 26-year-old, who missed last week's European Championships though illness, proved his class despite this setback and the nasty weather conditions, taking sixth with a time of 11:10, just 12 seconds off the pace of Stefan Kung (BMC), who won the stage.
"The weather conditions were not optimal. The parcours was very technical and because of the rain, very slippery. The first 15 riders were lucky it was still dry when they rode. I did my best, rode hard on the straight roads, but didn't want to take too many risks in the corners because it was pretty dangerous with the rain and small streets", said Yves, who lies in sixth place overall. "Considering the fact that I didn't have the best preparation due to being sick last week I'm happy with the time trial I did. I was even more happy that I could finally wear my national jersey for the first time in a race."
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele
