Bouwman wins mountain competition in Dauphiné
Jakob Fuglsang won the last stage to Plateau de Solaison and took the GC win as well. Best Team LottoNL-Jumbo rider in the overall was Stef Clement in 16th place.
“This has been the greatest week of my cycling career so far," Bouwman said after the stage. “Today it wasn't possible for me to make the break. It was full-gas racing from kilometer 0."
"I was told that I mathematically had the win, but my sport director asked me to ride full gas from the bottom of the last climb to the top, because I was more than 18 minutes behind so it was a question of making the time cut. I'm exhausted but I'm also very happy.”
The attacking-style of riding from Bouwman was the key to success in the mountain competition. In four of the eight stages, Bouwman was in the breakaway of the day. With his stage win and the overall win in the mountains competition, Bouwman shows that talent development and success in the shorter WorldTour races go hand in hand, as Primoz Roglic and George Bennet have shown.
“Keeping the mountains jersey was the best we could achieve today," Sports Director Grischa Niermann said.
“It was 115 kilometres of intense racing. Froome, Aru and Valverde attacked right from the start and that made it a really nice stage to watch. Stef Clement also did well. Again he rode strongly today and he got a 16th place overall.
“It was a very good week for us, with a stage win and the mountains competition. We raced here with a very young team. With these performances, we did well as a team."