Groenewegen wins Veenendaal-Veenendaal Classic

Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) delivered on his favourite status at the Veenendaal Classic, winning the Dutch one-day race on Wednesday in a bunch sprint.

With the Dutchman already a two-time winner of the late-summer classic - not to mention one of the leading sprinters of the season - and his team the only WorldTour outfit in the race, all eyes were on them. Despite a flurry of attacks, however, they never panicked, and Groenewegen made it look easy as he profited from a perfect lead-out to deliver an unrivalled sprint.

Wouter Wippert (Roompot) was the closest challenger but was unable to draw up alongside Groenewegen, while Sondre Hoist Enger (Israel Cycling Academy) was a more distant third.

The 191.5km race in central Holland was always likely to culminate in a bunch sprint. After a lengthy opening loop, the riders would then take on two laps of a 33km circuit around Veenendaal, featuring the short climb of the Grebbeberg.

Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport), Piotr Havin (Beat Cycling Club), Ivar Slik (Monkey Town), and Jaap Koojiman (Vlasman Cycling Team) formed the day’s early breakaway but were never able to open up an advantage of more than 2:30. They were caught by the peloton towards the end of the first local lap, with 40km to go.

The early regrouping sparked a fresh wave of attacks and as the bell sounded for the last lap, a group of 15 had disengaged itself from the peloton.

In there were: Sven Van Luijk (Monkey Town), Mark Christian (Aqua Blue Sport), Dimitri Peyskens (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic), Kenneth Van Rooy (Sport Vlaanderen Baloise), Alexander Kamp (Team Waoo), Taco Van Der Hoorn (Roompot), Jan Willem Van Schip (Roompot), Alex Mengoulas (Beat Cycling Club), Jason Van Dalen (Delta Cycling Rotterdam), Troels Ronning Vinther (Riwal CeramicSpeed), Daan Hoole (SEG), Mihkel Raim (Israel Cycling Academy), Gijs Van Hoecke (LottoNL-Jumno), Ivar Slik (Monkey Town), Cedric Raymackers (Cibel-Cebon).

With 25km to go, Raim went solo but only lasted a few kilometres, and with just over 20km to go the race had been pulled back together by LottoNL-Jumbo and CCC Sprandi Polkowice.

There were more attacks to come, but the one that stuck came from Michel Kreder (Aqua Blue Sport and Dimitri Peyskens (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic). The duo only had a small gap but held it as the roads narrowed and twisted in the final 10 kilometres.

LottoNL-Jumbo took to the front and, although they only caught the dup with 2km to go, there was no real sense of panic. Timo Roosen led into the final kilometre and guided Groenewegen through an important final right-hand bend and dropped him off with less than 200 metres to go. Groenewegen showed every ounce of his superiority in finishing the job.

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