Dylan Groenewegen’s chances to sprint to Scheldeprijs victory were ruined by a crash four kilometres from the finish in Antwerp’s suburb Schoten. The Dutch Champion of team LottoNL-Jumbo stopped behind the carnage while German Marcel Kittel raced to the win.

"This is a wasted opportunity. It is a shame that we couldn’t sprint today," said Groenewegen.

"We joked beforehand that this is a race towards the podium or iodine. It was the latter for most of us."

Robert Wagner and Gijs Van Hoecke were some of those who fell in the massive crash. Groenewegen sat behind them heading towards the finish.

"The only luck I had is that I didn’t crash,” Groenewegen added. “I stopped and my sprint was over. Unfortunately, you can’t control a crash, and that was certainly the case today. "

Before the crash, it went well for the Dutch WorldTour team. Steven Lammertink controlled the peloton behind the early breakaway group. With 20 kilometres to go, the peloton caught the group and the sprint trains readied. Groenewegen sat in good position.

‘This is just bad luck.’

Sports Director Addy Engels left Schoten fed up and “disappointed” that they could not lead Groenewegen to the line.

"This leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth. I am disappointed that it didn’t work out. If someone sprints faster then you are also fed up, but at least you are beaten fairly. This is just bad luck."

The good point is that the sprint preparations went well for the yellow and black team. The riders sat among teams Quick Step and Sky in the closing kilometres.

"We had three of us up there and we were waiting to go at the right time,” said Engels. “That's a good sign, the timing is better than last year.

"But not all went according to plan. Normally, Timo Roosen does the lead-out. However, he crashed and hurt his wrist. We decided that he should work a bit earlier. As a result, the timing was difficult. At the time of the crash, they were waiting and that was good. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to sprint for a result. "