After his dominance of the Tour de Langkwai, Theo Bos (Belkin) was the big favourite in today's Handzame Classic but was beaten into second by Luke Mezgec. The fast Dutchman was gracious in defeat and openly admitted that Mezgec had been the fastest rider in the race.

Theo Bos arrived centimetres too short to take his season’s fifth victory in the Handzame Classic today. Nevertheless, Bos stepped on the podium for a bottle of Champagne. The Dutch fast-man of the Belkin Pro Cycling Team placed second on the line behind Giant-Shimano’s Luka Mezgec. 

“I’m happy with the way we raced, but I’m less satisfied with the sprint,” said Bos. “Of course, that’s because I didn’t win, but honestly Mezgec was very fast and a second place was really my best today.” 

A head-wind blew down the final straight and forced the sprinters to wait long.

“Barry Markus dropped me and Graeme Brown off at the front, but when Mezgec accelerated I was still behind some other riders,” Bos continued. “I was still able to pass them but Mezgec was a bridge too far.” 

"It went as planned," he added to Directvelo. There were many small breaks, but ultimately, it was down to a big group. I was able to hang on and do my sprint. I have to be satisfied with second place because the winner was the fastest. Lotto was the strongest team, but our team has also done a great job. My next race will be the Scheldeprijs. "

Just like Bos, Sports Director Michiel Elijzen thought the day went according to plan.

“Although we would’ve preferred to win, sometimes someone is just faster than you,” Elijzen said. 

“We did much better than Wednesday when we were not attentive enough in my eyes. Today, we were in the race right from the start. We worked hard for a bunch sprint and succeeded. The wind split up the peloton at one point. Thanks to Weerplaza, we knew exactly when that was going to happen so we were able to anticipate it. As a result, our men were always in the mix.”