Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana: Dylan Groenewegen makes flying start for new team Unibet Rose Rockets with victory in first race

Dylan Groenewegen secured his first win of the season in the colours of his new team Unibet Rose Rockets at the Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana-Gran Premi València on Sunday.

The Dutch sprinter, who transferred from Jayco AlUla at the end of last season, was the fastest to reach the finish line among a lead group that split off the front of the field along a wind-swept coastline route into València.

Groenewegen, who won this race in 2024, crossed the line with the win ahead of runner-up Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) and third-placed Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies).

The peloton set off on a 200km route that started in La Nucia along the coastline before moving inland toward the climbs – two of those categorised – before descending onto the valley roads for the last half of the race along the coast into València.

Samuele Zoccarato (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort) and Enzo Leijnse (Anicolor-Campicarn) were the first to set themselves apart just after the Alto de Coll de Rates (14.2km at 3%), pushing their lead out to more than five minutes within the first 50km of the race.

The gap dropped as the pair raced toward the Alto Beniarrés
(4.8km at 4%), and was down to three and a half minutes over the top. With just over 100km to go, much of it on a descent followed by a flat race along the coast, it would be a tough ask for the two escapees to hold off the main field.

A quick pace set by Soudal-QuickStep, Movistar, Total Energies and Equipo Kern Pharma slashed the gap to the breakaway to under a minute with 60km remaining, and the field was back together with 30km to go.

Unibet Rose Rockets led the peloton through strong gusts of wind off the coastline that caused echelons to form and the field to split apart.

In the last 20km, a front group of 17 riders formed, which included former winner Groenewegen and three of his Unibet Rose Rockets teammates: Elmar Reinders, Karsten Larsen Feldmann, and Rory Townsend.

Other teams that made the split in numbers included three riders from Soudal-QuickStep: Magnier, Dries Van Gestel, and Ceriel Desal, and three riders from Jayco AlUla: Amaury Capiot, Robert Donaldson and Jelte Krijnsen.

Teams with two riders included Polti VisitMalta; Dario Igor Belletta and Giovanni Lonardi, TotalEnergies; Florian Dauphin and Jeannière, and Bahrain-Victorious; Vlad Van Mechelen and Alberto Bruttomesso. The only rider in the front split without teammates was Sebastian Grindley (Lidl-Trek Future Racing).

The gap fluctuated over the final eight kilometres, down to 12 seconds and then back to 30 seconds, with the winner almost surely coming out of this group.

The group of 17 riders barrelled onto the finishing straight with Groenewegen keying off of his lead-out, taking the sprint victory and first win of the season with his new team Unibet Rose Rockets.

Results

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