Bos, Renshaw test train in Scheldeprijs

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In his third attempt Dutch sprinter Theo Bos (Rabobank) once again fell short to grab the flowers at the Scheldeprijs, the sprinter's festival in Schoten, Belgium. In contrast to his previous two tries, the Dutchman finally was able to mix in for the win but he didn't have the punch to react when Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda) and eventual winner Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) launched their sprints.

"I wanted to react on Farrar his move but I was just a little too late for that. Then he fell back slightly so I think I came back on him. I think that as a team we got the most out of it, even though I would love to see it end differently," Bos said.

Despite falling short for the win Bos was pleased with his performance and the cooperation with teammate Mark Renshaw. Before the race Renshaw reflected on his transition to Rabobank and looked forward to working with Bos. "Theo is one of the fastest sprinters in the world on the track. His transition to the road is getting better now. He'll prove himself in the future, as I will. Hopefully we'll get our chances," Renshaw said. "For me it's hard to come into a new team and for these guys it's hard to work with someone new. I think we're getting better and this will be the first race in which we have a dedicated lead-out team," Renshaw said.

After a crash-riddled final circuit in which the Rabobank pair emerged unscathed, Bos complimented his new teammate on guiding him through the chaos. "Having Mark there is unbelievable. He's got so much experience and is so cool. My task today was to stick on his wheel and I did it the best I can," Bos said before adding that he wasn't worrying about his safety in the rain as it meant that the peloton rode on one single line which made it safer. "The last two years I was wondering: what am I doing here. To me this was the safest edition of the last three years."

Bos was pleased with his positioning in the final kilometer, something which he wasn't able to get right in past years, but he realized that he still made a mistake in the final seconds of the race.

"I was riding on a very big gear. I was on the 11 [cog] but that was too big, especially with that coldness on the legs. I should've used the 12. We came out very early but there was no other way. Maybe it would've been the same on the 12 but when I started my sprint I realized: ouch, this will be tough. I didn't have enough power. I still have to work on my sprint. I'm well aware of that. My power output is good but it can still improve."

During the upcoming months Renshaw and Bos will ride together at stage races like the Tour of Romandie and possibly the Giro d'Italia. The duo looked forward to enhance their lead-out as Renshaw pointed out what had been lacking so far.

"I'm disappointed not to have won already. I've been close on a few occasions and I missed a little bit of help in some races at the finish. Now with the team that is here that stays together for the next month or two it's a good opportunity to work together and fix some of the lead-out problems that we've missed in the past," Renshaw said.