Markus himself was one of the first to throw the bat into the henhouse. The rider cycled a few seconds ahead, but the failure attempt did not last very long. Marianne Vos certainly did not sit still either. With forty kilometres to go Vos attacked from the peloton. The four-time Dutch champion quickly gathered a lead of fifty seconds, but with twenty kilometres from the finish Vos was again grabbed by the now thinned-out peloton.
At ten kilometres from the finish, Van Anrooij escaped from a group of twenty drivers. Markus saw her chance and was on the wheel of the young rider in no time. Because the chase didn’t really get going, the two had a lead of about twenty seconds at the foot of the final climb of the VAM mountain. The pursuers approached within a few seconds, but they bit the strong duo. Markus started in the last hundreds of meters and seemed to break Van Anrooij. The latter fought back, but Markus was eventually allowed to make the victory gesture. Markus’ first win of the season is Team Jumbo-Visma’s third win of 2022.
“It is really wonderful to win here”, explains the new Dutch champion afterwards. “It was quite an emotional day. Before the start, we briefly discussed the situation of Amy Pieters, a good friend of mine. The button then had to be turned quickly. I felt good in the race. We did very well as a team today. In the final phase, it was wise not to lead too much because Marianne was still behind it. It was important to keep a cool head. I went early and saw Shirin almost coming alongside. Fortunately, it was enough and I became the Dutch champion here. Last year I celebrated Amy’s title with her. I miss her all year next to me in the race and think of her a lot. I hope she’s a little proud of me now.”