Dylan is a Dutch of class
IF Yorkshire’s Grand Depart eight years ago was ‘reet grand,’ the Tour de France’s long weekend in Denmark was, in local parlance, virkelig godt.
No sooner had Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen won his first stage on Le Tour for three years, edging out Wout van Aert in a photo finish, than the circus evacuated Scandinavia and began the 600-mile transfer to Dunkirk for tomorrow’s 106.5-mile fourth stage to Calais.
For flying Dutchman Groenewegen, triumph at the end of the 113-mile migration from Vejle to Sonderborg came with a dollop of redemption.
Two years ago, he was clobbered with a ninemonth ban after being blamed for a terrifying 50mph crash at the Tour of Poland which left Fabio Jakobsen in a coma with doctors fearing for his life.
Groenewegen received death threats and he said: “It’s been a long way back. Not physically, but mentally, it’s been a hard time of course after everything that happened.
“This win is for my wife and son. It means a lot.”
As Groenewegen celebrated, subsidiary drama unfolded around six miles from the end of a largely uneventful stage, which brought down Britain’s four-times Yellow Jersey winner Chris Froome, his second taste of tarmac in as many days.
Last man to escape the pile-up was defending champion Tadej Pogacar. Crashing would have sent him tumbling down the leaderboard.
The Slovenian remains third in the general classification, where Ineos Grenadiers’ British trio Adam Yates (eighth), Tom Pidcock (10th) and Geraint Thomas (12th) are all more or less within half a minute of leader Van Aert.
A heavy crash on last year’s Grand Depart in Brittany had left Froome with multiple cuts and bruises, but he said: “The first few stages of the Tour are always going to be stressful.
“It could have been like last year, when I was in a lot of pain. This time it was just a few grazes so I consider myself lucky.”