Powerful Groenewegen silences critics
Dutchman pips rivals to the line in sprint to take his first stage victory of 2018 Tour de France
>> CHARTRES: Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen burst past Colombian sprinter Fernando Gaviria to seal a first win on this Tour de France on Friday, saying he’d refound his confidence, speed and pride at the end of a 231km seventh stage from Fougeres to Chartres.
The Lotto NL-Jumbo rider, who won the final stage to Paris last year, had by his own admission suffered a disappointing start to the 2018 Tour before his show of power to beat Gaviria into second and Peter Sagan into third.
“People had been saying I was not good enough to win a stage on this Tour, so I put my finger to my lips to tell them to shut up,” said Groenewegen, explaining his gesture at the finish line.
“I had started wondering myself, thinking ‘shit, am I good enough’, so this win feels really good after six days waiting.”
Groenewegen grew up in a cycling environment as his grandfather was a bike manufacturer and his boyhood coach was Jean-Paul van Poppel, winner of nine sprint finishes at the Tour de France.
“I was pretty disappointing in the first few stages but now I’ve got the power back in my legs,” said the 25-year-old from Amsterdam who dislikes comparisons to Briton Mark Cavendish.
“I have my own style,” he said when asked about his similarity to the veteran Manxman with 39 stage wins under his belt.
“This win was fantastic for my self confidence, I feel under less pressure now, a sprinter needs confidence.
“I’ll be trying to win again tomorrow now!” added the Dutchman.
World champion road racer Sagan said he’d been happy enough to stay on Gaviria’s wheel and keep ahead in the green points jersey race.
He has 234 points to the 23-yearold Gaviria’s 203.
“I had a good day,” said the 28-yearold Slovakian rider, who has, like Gaviria, two stage wins so far.
“Third is OK, if I win what do I get except an extra point or two? I’m after the green jersey and look, I’m wearing it.”
“It was a boring stage, no wind, no stress just boring, I was talking to everybody,” he said.
Belgian Greg Van Avermaet retained the leader’s yellow jersey ahead of yesterday’s eighth stage and said he hope to go to the mountains with it next week after what he described as a relaxing day.
“It was nice to relax because over this first week we have had very little chance to do that, believe me,” said the BMC man.
Van Avermaet actually extended his lead in the overall standings over Geraint Thomas to six seconds when he raced ahead of the pack to win a three-second bonus sprint.
BMC captain Porte was 56sec off the lead, Adam Yates 1min 05sec, defending champion Chris Froome at 1min 06sec.