For Groenewegen, the pressure was already off after his stage victory on Danish territory. Also with Michael Matthews as stage winner, it turned out to be a successful Tour for BikeExchange. ,,We came for one stage win, now there are two. We can be very satisfied with that. Today we also came to win and that didn’t work out, we hate that. But all in all it is a nice Tour.”
The Amsterdammer had perhaps the best lead-out of all sprinters. In the last straight line, however, he had to put on the sprint himself. ,,I expected that Trek-Segafredo rider to continue longer, but that was not the case. I had to start a little earlier and that’s a shame. Now someone is stronger than when I won five years ago. Jasper Philipsen survived the Tour well, me too, but I had to go a little too early.”
All in all, Groenewegen can look back on a good Tour. In six months, he has been given a complete sprint train with his new Australian team. ,,If you see where we are in six months and can perform such a good lead-out on Champs-Élysées, then we can build from here. We had perhaps the best lead-out of all today, only Philipsen was faster. Then it depends on details.”
Fabio Jakobsen also took part in the bunch sprint, but never got around to sprinting and finished in a disappointing thirteenth place. ,,The moment I have to switch on, my chain bounces off. Then it stops. I don’t know why, maybe I hit a bump, but I think it’s just bad luck. I can’t waste much more words than that on the last kilometer here,” he says to the NOS .
Jakobsen hoped to crown his first Tour de France with a stage win on Champs-Élysées. It would complete his bizarre comeback after the accident in Poland. ,,Actually, I should be very happy to be here, I know where I come from and it is a great story, but for the moment the disappointment dominates. As a sprinter you want to participate in the sprint and I didn’t do that. In the Tour you get a few chances and in my case three. I’ll take one of those, but if you miss an opportunity like this, it makes me a little sad,” said the Quick-Step rider. “I’m not going to say I won, but I wanted me to mix and sprint. The moment I have to go, just behind Alexander Kristoff, I can’t start and it stops.”
The next goal for Jakobsen is the European Championship cycling in Munich on August 14. “It’s my first time in Paris. I fought hard for this and then you want to close it nicely. Now I’m standing here telling a pathetic story, I’d rather not do that. Then I just have to take revenge there.”