Eenkhoorn deeply disappointed after second place in Tour stage: "I was perfectly positioned in his slipstream"

Pascal Eenkhoorn narrowly missed out on victory in the eighteenth stage of the Tour de France. The Dutchman riding for Lotto-Dstny lost the sprint to co-leader Kasper Asgreen.

It was a thrilling finale, with a very small gap between the peloton and the four leaders. Against all expectations, the breakaway riders managed to narrowly stay ahead of the peloton, and Asgreen won the sprint.

"This really sucks," a disappointed Eenkhoorn said once he reached the finish line. "When you find yourself in such a position, you just want to win. What Campenaerts did for me... He silently rode full throttle until the final three hundred meters. It was a challenging finish, and I was perfectly positioned in Asgreen's slipstream. But I couldn't pass him, and in the end, the strongest rider simply wins," Eenkhoorn told NOS.

Initially, Eenkhoorn was not part of the breakaway. In the second half of the stage, he repeatedly attempted to bridge the gap due to the small advantage of the leading group. On one occasion, he was cut off by Jasper Philipsen. However, thanks to the assistance of his teammate Campenaerts on a new attempt, he managed to join the group in front.

Eenkhoorn: "We were riding to win"

"After that, we rode full throttle, which is what I love to do the most. You could see that the riders behind us were completely exhausted. I experienced a similar situation in last year's Giro. It's just so motivating, and Campenaerts was so strong," Eenkhoorn continued.

"The time gap fluctuated between five and ten seconds. We didn't know what would happen. If Campenaerts hadn't pushed that hard during the final kilometer, I think they would have caught up to us. That shows that we were riding to win. The four of us gave it our all," Eenkhoorn said, absolving himself and his teammates of any regrets.

"It was an all-out effort for fifteen seconds," the rider reiterated when asked about the sprint against Asgreen. "Almost winning a Tour stage victory is nice and all, but that's still not winning," Eenkhoorn concluded, describing the second-place finish aptly.