Groenewegen wins Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne

Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) continued his winning start to the season with a victory at the Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne. Groenewegen came from behind, up the right side of the road, to beat Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) and Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in De Panne.

Groenewegen bided his time further down the bunch as Michael Mørkøv (Deceuninck-QuickStep) led out Viviani. The Italian champion was the first to launch his sprint with around 200 metres to go. Meanwhile, Groenewegen stayed rooted to Gaviria's wheel as the Colombian charged through on the right.

With 100 metres to go, Groenewegen moved out of Gaviria's slipstream and held his nerve to squeeze through the barely big enough gap between Gaviria and the barriers. Groenewegen did not hold back and by the time he reached the line he had time to look back at his rivals and see the devastation he'd left in his wake.

The win is Groenewegen's fifth of the season so far, pushing him one clear of sprint rivals Viviani and Sam Bennett. Groenewegen will now head to Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday in the hope that he can capitalise on his form. The Dutchman is not making any bold predictions about his chances at the weekend.

"I think this race is actually a little bit easier than Gent-Wevelgem, Gent-Wevelgem is a really hard race for me and maybe we can go for that in the coming years. We have a strong team for Sunday and we will do our best," he said.

How it happened

After a brief sojourn to Italy, the Belgian Classics resumed with the one-day Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne. With just a few climbs to speak of, the 200-kilometre race attracted a star-studded list of sprinters looking for success – helped by its new WorldTour status.

The race's proximity to the coast made crosswinds a constant threat, and teams would need to pay attention all day.

A fast start to the day made it difficult for a breakaway to get clear but a six-man move did eventually get off the front of the peloton in the opening 20 kilometres. Movistar's Jasha Sütterlin initiated the attack and was eventually joined by Stan Dewulf (Lotto Soudal), Jimmy Janssens (Corendon Circus), Senne Leysen (Roompot Charles), Adrien Garel (Vital Concept - B&B Hotels) and Mathijs Paasschens (Wallonie-Bruxelles). Jordi Warlop (Sport Vlaanderen) tried to join the party but was shown the door before he could get over the threshold.

Behind, the sprint teams would take it, in turn, to set the pace in the peloton and they kept the six-man breakaway at a palatable distance. They were allowed no more than five minutes as the bunch sought to ensure a bunch gallop at the end of the day.

As the race hit the Kemmelberg with 120 kilometres remaining, the peloton broke up with Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin), Danny van Poppel (Jumbo-Visma) and Lukas Postlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) going off the front.

The quality of the attack meant that the peloton could not allow them any space out front and several teams set to work to bring them back. The five managed to gain over a minute on the peloton and stayed out front for around 50 kilometres before they were finally absorbed. There must have been plenty of concerned voices over the team radio, but the peloton could breathe easy – for the time being at least.

The teams continued to share pacing duties, and as the leaders crossed the finish line to begin the final lap, the gap had been reduced to just one minute.

Though the wind swept across the peloton throughout the stage, echelons never seemed like they would break up the peloton. They didn't need to, with plentiful crashes wreaking havoc on the bunch. The original three-day race might be gone, but there were times that it appeared its chaotic nature had crammed itself into the single day.

The biggest incident came with 11 kilometres to go as the bunch closed in on the breakaway, which had only a few seconds in hand on the peloton. As the race reached a pinch point, Zak Dempster (Israel Cycling Academy) clipped a metal barrier, flipping him off his bike and onto the grass. There was little room for the other riders to avoid him and many more went down, including pre-race favourite Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe).

The stricken riders were spread across half the road and much of the peloton was caught behind it. Nevertheless, the reduced peloton plugged on and caught the breakaway soon after. As the race approached the finale in De Panne, Deceuninck-QuickStep and CCC Team cranked up the pace to a level high enough to eliminate any late break attempts. Though Ackermann had been eliminated from the running, most of the big sprint contenders had made it through to the leading group.

Deceuninck-QuickStep assumed control in the final kilometre with Morkov taking up the role as the final man for Viviani in the Belgian team's sprint train. Deceuninck-QuickStep have been the team to beat all spring, particularly with the defending champion in their line-up, but this was one that they could not conquer.

Groenewegen kept calm and collected, following Gavira through the melee of sprinters and charging through the small gap to the barriers that he'd left open. Once he'd made it through the gap, there was no stopping Groenewegen as he stormed to the win with relative ease.

Full Results