ZLM Tour: Arvid de Kleijn surges to stage 3 sprint win

Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) won the sprint finish of stage 3 at the ZLM Tour, with room to spare at the line in Roosendaal. Jakub Mareczko (Alpecin-Deceuninck) secured second place by edging out Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5 Pro Cycling).

Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) remained protected in the main bunch and retained the race lead, with one day left to race.

Rick Ottema (Allinq Continental Cycling), who was part of the first breakaway group of the day, attacked again from the main bunch with just under 7.5km to race. His quest on the solo effort lasted 5km, with Astana Qazaqstan leading the peloton on the flat road to the finish, with riders from Alpecin-Deceuninck and Team DSM lining up for the sprinters. Stage 3 winner Mareczko blasted to the front in an attempt for another victory, but was swarmed and passed by De Kleijn in closing 100 metres.

The 194km stage headed out for one large loop across the province of North Brabant. A group of five riders created the first separation from the peloton after the opening 15km - Giles De Wilde (Flanders-Baloise), Jan-Willem van Schip (ABLOC CT), Ottema, Lars Hohmann (Metec-SolarWatt p/b Mantel) and Nick van der Meer (VolkerWessels Cycling). They were soon joined by Simone Bevilacqua (Eolo-Kometa). They remained out front until the mid-way point of the race.

A large group of 16 riders accelerated with 88km to go and from that eager assembly  a trio of riders got away with 80km to race - David Martin (Eolo-Kometa), Aaron Van Poucke (Flanders-Baloise) as well as Van Schip. They worked together across the next 40km and held a one-minute advantage. 

Martin took the top points ahead of val Poucke at the intermediate sprint in Roosendaal, but it was Van Schip who continued his acceleration and distanced his riding partners, setting off alone with 28km to go. 

Jumbo-Visma and Eolo-Kometa led the chase behind and with eight more kilometres ticked off, Van Schip had a 25-second gap. 

At the start of the last pass of the finish circuit with less than 12km remaining,, there was a big crash in the peloton when two riders on the far left side of the road appeared to touch wheels and crash into the fencing, taking down another 10. On the far right side, Jumbo-Visma escaped and powered ahead, soon catching Van Schip to set up a bunch finish.

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