Dylan Groenewegen finished second in the Belgian one-day Handzame Classic. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s Robert Wagner led out Groenewegen, who was passed by Erik Baška (Tinkoff).

“We wanted to do a good sprint lead-out today,” Dylan Groenewegen said after his second place. “But I punctured with 13 kilometres to go. That forced us to use two men already to get me back in front in time. Those riders were too tired in the final.”

Groenewegen was in front in the final kilometre of the race together with Robert Wagner. “Robert gave me a great lead-out. I had to take off with 300 metres to go afterwards, which was too early in the end. We faced headwind in the sprint, as well. Baška was a bit faster than me, unfortunately.”

Puncture

Merijn Zeeman didn’t blame his team after the race. “The race was uncontrolled,” the sports director said. “We had to work hard to make sure that it was going to end up in a bunch sprint. We succeeded. The lead-out ran quite smoothly, as well. When Dylan punctured, Bram Tankink gave him his wheel, so Bram wasn’t able to play a role in the sprint preparation anymore. Twan Castelijns also had a flat tyre within the final three kilometres so he also faded away. Victor Campenaerts and Maarten Wynants picked it up well afterwards and Robert did everything he could to make sure that Dylan didn’t get boxed in.”

Compliment

The moment Groenewegen began his sprint was the right one in Zeeman’s opinion. “This was the only way to win the race. If he had waited longer, the riders would have passed him like a wave and that would have ruled him out. Of course, we’re fed up about not winning, but everyone is working on the development of the sprint train. We still have to improve, but I think that the team deserves a compliment for today’s performance.”