Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) made it two for two at the Tour de Hongrie, extending his lead in the overall classification in the second sprint stage of the race.
Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) opened up the sprint and could almost taste the podium champagne before Van Poppel muscled his way alongside and then lunged at the line to snatch the victory by half a wheel's width.
Van Poppel leads the Tour de Hongrie by eight seconds over breakaway rider János Pelikán (Team United Shipping) with Groenewegen third at 10 seconds.
The victory came after a crash during the stage took out three of Van Poppel's teammates, including their main sprinter Sam Welsford along with Ryan Mullen and Frederik Wandahl, leaving Van Poppel to freelance the sprint.
"After the crash, I tried to stay calm and told myself to just give it a go," Van Poppel said. "I know I can position well, and with the headwind I waited for the right moment. Honestly, I'm a bit surprised – I didn't expect to take the win today, but I'm really proud of how it worked out."
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