Tour de Yorkshire: Groenewegen powers to victory in opening stage

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Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) took victory on the opening stage of the Tour de Yorkshire, getting the better of a boxed-in Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) in the sprint finish in Settle.

The Dutchman, whose teammates had shut down a solo move from Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) just ahead of the flamme rouge, went left as he came round Niklas Arndt (Giant-Alpecin) – who finished third – to open his sprint, leaving the young Australian Ewan with no room to get round.

Groenewegen pulled on the first blue leader’s jersey of the 2016 race for his efforts and, thanks to bonus seconds, he leads the overall by four seconds over Ewan ahead of the repeat sprint showdown expected on Saturday.

“It was very good lead-out from my team. It was perfect; the last corner I took the lead and I could hold it to the finish. I’m very happy with this win, it’s very good for me and the team,” said Groenewegen.

“I think not,” he said when asked if there was any chance bonus seconds could help him mount a bid for the overall. “I go for it tomorrow then Sunday it’s for Steven [Kruijswijk] and Primoz [Roglic].”

The north of England served up its unique cocktail of hills, grippy roads and grim weather on the 183km trip from Beverley to Settle. Despite the adverse conditions, with driving rain and winds of around 35km/h, and headwind for the most part, it was a relatively contained affair.

Six riders went up the road early on and they were kept on a four-minute leash for much of the day thanks mostly to the efforts of Team Sky, who only had Danny van Poppel’s sixth place to show for it. Once on the final circuit inside the final 15km, the French duo of Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) and Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) enjoyed a few kilometres solo, before Cummings launched his threatening late move, but there were enough teams and numbers to ensure the bunch sprint.

How it happened

Almost as soon as the flag had dropped, so had many of the riders. There was a big crash in the early stages and though no one was seriously affected, a group of breakaway hopefuls managed to forge clear before order had been restored.

Jens Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Pete Williams (One Pro Cycling), Sebastian Mora (Raleigh GAC), Matt Cronshaw (Madison Genisis), Nils Politt (Katusha), Graham Briggs (JLT Condor) were the escape artists and they soon had four minutes as Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) was sent to the front to assume policing duties, and he stayed there for some time.

He was joined by teammate Xavier Xandio and later by Orica’s King Lok Cheung, and it was a big effort just to keep things under control, with the peloton strung out into a line as the riders battled a 34km/h headwind and driving rain. Bernard Eisel was an increasingly prominent figure at the front in the final 100km as riders grappled with gilets and rain jackets in the ever-changing conditions.

With 70km to go, Wallays, Williams and Politt used the rolling terrain to dispose of their breakaway companions and they battled it out for the KOM points on the Côte de Greenhow Hill – where Williams came out on top convincingly. After that, though, they were brought back by the bunch and, after a couple of counter attacks, it was all together and under control in the last 30km

At the intermediate sprint in Giggleswick, Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) attacked in search of three relatively easy bonus seconds but he was followed and passed by compatriot Anthony Turgis (Cofidis). That duo then enjoyed a tailwind as they managed to hold of the bunch into the final 5km but it was Cummings who then rolled the dice. After a few moments of hesitation and panic, Lotto brought him back under the flamme rouge and put Groenewgen in a good position for the sprint. They were brought back but Steve Cummings was already on the attack and he rolled the dice. He had a handful of seconds going into the final couple of kilometres and after a moment of panic, LottoNL-Jumbo turned up the pace and brought it back together underneath the flamme rouge.

Karol Domagalski (ONE Pro) led it out but Groenewegen came past from third with a strong surge of pace. Ewan, the pre-race favourite, was on his wheel and will be left to wonder what might have been if he’d had space to take on the Dutchman.

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