Different flags

Today at theVAM-berg we had set up the big stage for the sometimes still very small riders. Podium girls Jildau, Anniek, Rosalee and podium boy Quinten were ready with the yellow, green, white and pink jerseys. And of course with the medals for the first three of each race.

We saw lots of nationalities on that big podium. In the seven youth categories, riders from as many as six countries won: Netherlands, Great Britain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hong Kong and Ireland.

Ethan Real provided the first ever Irish victory. Well, as long as our archives, or in this case my memory, go back. In category 6, he beat Joost Vrij in a very exciting sprint. Besides the Irish and Dutch rider, England’s Laurie Dutton was also on the podium.

There was also a first for Thibaut Beckers as there was no Swiss winner this week either. The 14-year-old rider did it after an impressive solo in category 7, with England’s Harry Cooper and Denmark’s Philip Ternstrøm Hyldtoft finishing at more than a minute.

Category 5 has been the domain of Jeremy Leung since the first stage. The rider from Hong Kong, China provided the first ever win for his country. Meanwhile, the tally already stands at three. Again, there were three nationalities on the podium of honour. Jeremy was joined by Joren Pijpker from the Netherlands and Tommy Bass from the UK, or more precisely the Isle of Man.

The youngest categories did not underperform in terms of internationality. England’s Harrison Northover was on the podium of category 1 with Germany’s Jonas Immel and the Netherlands’ Janine Barkhuis. In category 2, there was also an English win for Edward Nicholls but Collin Luchies and Emmie Veneman from the Netherlands joined him in the beaming sunshine on VAM-berg

In category 3, we also celebrated a Dutch win today. Tim Jansen attacked in the final, beating Germany’s Erik Dambacher, Tuesday’s winner, and England’s Oscar Northover. Again three different countries. Finally, the Luxembourg flag also went up for Mathis Elsen in category 4. On the podium we saw the British flag for Edward Peters and the Dutch flag for Florian Castein. The Jeugdtour Assen is rightfully an international competition and we are only too proud of that.

All results are on the special results page.