Exactly one day after Jakobsen, Groenewegen also wins a stage

He is usually better after a disappointment, says Dylan Groenewegen on Sunday afternoon before the start of the third stage in the Tour de France. He finished eighth the day before in the Danish finish place Nyborg. Due to his own mistake, he could not really participate in the battle for victory. He’d gotten boxed in on the right side of the road, lost his Bike Exchange teammates on the left. Wrong decision, he’s angry about it.

Until his luck, a second chance awaits a day later. As if the disappointment and anger of the day before give him the last necessary push, he passes the wheel of the Belgian Wout van Aert in the very last meters on Sunday. The difference in finish place Sonderborg is minimal after 182 kilometers of course. But he wins.

Groenewegen (29) puts his bicycle aside 100 meters after the finish, sitting is all he can do now. That last punch came from his toes, his legs already felt pretty empty on the last straight. The emotion quickly follows, especially because he suddenly sees his father standing. It’s not normally there.

Mentally difficult

His fifth stage win in the Tour, his first since 2019, is worth a lot to him. He had a hard time mentally, Groenewegen says shortly after the finish. Two years ago there was the terrible fall of Fabio Jakobsen in the Tour of Poland, after Groenewegen deviated from his line just before the finish line in Katowice. Jakobsen flew over the fences, broke almost all the bones in his face and had to fear for his life. Groenewegen was suspended for nine months after the accident. His grandfather died during that period, there were problems after the birth of his son. And now a win in a Tour stage, exactly one day after Jakobsen had won.

Yes, his victory gives him some peace of mind for the stages to come, Groenewegen says during the press conference afterwards in Sonderborg. For a sprinter, there are only a few moments when he can show himself. It leads to extra tension in the Tour, in which the peloton is already more nervous than the rest of the season, say sprinters Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) before the second stage. There is more pushing and pulling. Every rider knows: a lot is at stake in the Tour.

They all want to be at the front in these stages, said Quick Step team boss Patrick Lefevere at the team bus on Sunday. There are riders who want to bring their teammates forward at almost any cost. When that is successful, the pedals suddenly stop. Lefevere calls it irresponsible racing.

Peloton halved

On Sunday in the ride to Sonderborg there is a crash ten kilometers before the end, Saturday it goes wrong three times. In the last three kilometers the peloton is halved by a fall, which means that the Australian Ewan can no longer participate for the stage victory. He will choose the right line on Sunday, it seems. But because the Slovak Peter Sagan keeps moving a few millimeters in front of him towards the gates, he has no room to overtake. Ewan hits his handlebars. Missed another chance.

Also Jakobsen (25) failed to cycle the perfect line on Sunday. The last bend on the way to the finish is too wide for the sprinter of Quick Step Alpha Vinyl, he has to brake harder than expected. As a result, there are suddenly ten riders in front of him. His lead-out, the Dane Michael Morkov, has disappeared from his sight. The wearer of the green jersey can no longer make up for that. He doesn’t get past fifth place.

shoulder duel

In his stage win on Saturday, Jakobsen had chosen a better position in that regard. Although he also had to fight for that spot. He almost got into trouble in the finish place Nyborg due to a shoulder duel with Sagan. A repeat of the sprint from above showed their jerseys sticking together for a second or two. “But it all looks more intense from that angle,” said Jakobsen. “Peter is very good at steering, and I am pretty good myself.” He pronounced it with the calm of a winner. In Nyborg, debutant Jakobsen recorded a victory in his second stage in the Tour de France. He defeated Wout van Aert in the final meters, who again finished second on Sunday and retained the yellow leader’s jersey.

Lefevere called Saturday’s stage a test for his rider. “The most important thing is that after his accident, Fabio did not get scared in a crowded platoon,” he says. Because, “a sprinter who brakes is lost.”.

Although still convinced of his own abilities, Jakobsen says that the accident in Poland has also made him more humble. He has more eye for what is really important in life. For his betrothed, his sister, his parents. The people who drove him to the hospital every day when needed. He thinks of other riders who experienced a similar accident. Riders who couldn’t come back after that. Or worse, who can’t retell it at all.

normal person

Jakobsen is grateful that he could first become a normal person again. “That was the most important thing,” says Lefevere. Only after that came the return as a rider.

“For Cor”, Jakobsen specifically addresses his 85-year-old osteopath Cor van Wanrooij afterwards. “He may not have put my teeth back”, says Jakobsen, “but he has ensured that I have the flexibility in my muscles. have back. It was almost completely gone.”

He is also grateful for his team, who have always had faith in him, he says. In an interview with the AD he expressed his concerns about contract extension a year and a half ago. “No one wants a lame rider who no longer dares anything. They will no longer pay me a salary because they thought I was so pathetic,” said Jakobsen. He now repays that confidence in the Tour.