Tour of Slovenia: Dylan Groenewegen doubles up on stage 2

Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-Alula) claimed his second win in as many days as he sprinted to victory on stage 2 of the Tour of Slovenia in Ormož.

The Dutchman retains the yellow jersey after he beat Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) in the bunch sprint after a lead-out from teammate Luka Mezgec.

“Luka and I had a bit of a misunderstanding, but he still did a great lead-out again along with Lukas Pöstlberger,” Groenewegen said. “I lost a little bit of speed when Luka went to the right but that’s also good preparation for the Tour.

“In the end, it was a hard sprint, slightly uphill. But Luka made a lot of speed for me again and I only had to sprint for 180m.”

Euskaltel-Euskadi and Q36.5 had looked to take up the reins in the final kilometre, but Jayco-Alula timed their surge well, with Mezgec dropping Groenewegen off inside the final 200m. Groenewegen proceeded to deliver a powerful effort on the gently curving finishing straight, though he was pushed all the way by Moschetti, who came from a long way back but ran out of road before the finish.

Bauhaus, second on the opening day, faded slightly in the closing metres here and had to settle for third. In the overall standings, Groenewegen now holds a 10-second lead over Moschetti and Bauhaus thanks to the stage winner’s time bonus.

The victory was Groenewegen’s sixth of the season and a timely confirmation of his form ahead of the Tour de France, where he will aim to add to his running tally of five stage wins.

Stage 2 of the Tour of Slovenia was always likely to lend itself to a bunch sprint, though that didn’t dissuade an early break of six riders from forging clear, while Jayco-Alula policed the peloton on Groenewegen’s behalf.

The move broke up as the day drew on, with Moran Vermeulen (Team Vorarlberg) the last man standing from the early escape. He would be swept up in the final 20km, however, as Bora-Hansgrohe began to wind up the pace ahead of the short climb of Jeruzalem.

The hope was undoubtedly to discommode the fast men, but Groenwegen, Bauhaus et al held firm on the climb despite the speed at the head of the race.

“The start was ok, we had some good control of the break with Bahrain. Then on the last climb, Bora decided to go full gas so that makes it a bit harder and that made the bunch a bit smaller,” said Groenewegen, who had Pöstlberger to guide him back to the front over the other side.

“We knew the climb a little bit because Luka knows the roads. We decided he would stay in front with Filippo Zana, while Pösty stayed with me and brought me back.”

Bora-Hansgrohe’s Giovanni Aleotti led over the top and briefly threatened to slip clear but he was immediately brought to heel. Other attackers in the finale included Simon Pellaud (Tudor) and Ben Zwiehoff (Bora-Hansgrohe) but the speed in the bunch meant that a mass finish was all but inevitable.

Italian champion Filippo Zana was prominent in working on Groenewegen’s behalf on the run-in, and the Dutchman had Pöstlberg and Mezgec to provide a pathway in the final kilometre.

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