Groenewegen also the fastest on his birthday in ZLM Tour

Groenewegen also the fastest on his birthday in ZLM Tour

After having won the first stage, Dylan Groenewegen has also won the second stage in the ZLM Tour. In Buchten, the Dutchman sprinted sovereignly to another victory and gave himself a nice present for his 26th birthday. Lead-out Mike Teunissen finished third and took over the yellow leader’s jersey from teammate Jos van Emden through four bonification seconds.

For Groenewegen, it is his tenth victory of the season, the twenty-ninth of Team Jumbo-Visma.

A leading group of four riders got a maximum margin of four minutes and were taken back in the last five kilometres by Team Jumbo-Visma. Groenewegen was perfectly brought into position by his team, after which Mike Teunissen pulled through and paved the way for Groenewegen.

“Winning is always nice”, the winner said. “After my crash yesterday, I was not feeling great. The team did a perfect job and brought me in a good position for the sprint. They had the stage perfectly under control. The lead-out was perfect and that gives me confidence for the Tour. The goal is to fine-tune the lead-out and this is the ideal race for that.”

“Today’s lead-out was of great class”, the new GC leader Teunissen said. “People might say that this race is not of WorldTour level, but that is what makes it so difficult. The whole peloton wants to surprise you. Therefore you have to make sure that you don’t get boxed in. We constantly stayed together as a team. I started the sprint and I saw that there was a gap, so I continued the sprint myself. Of course I would like to win the ZLM Tour, but the most important thing is that someone of the team wins.”

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