Dylan Groenewegen "learned a lot" from 2022's mistakes and enters 2023 winning at Saudi Tour

Dylan Groenewegen had a difficult 2022 season but has kicked off 2023 the right away. In the land of a team sponsor, Team Jayco AlUla had the pressure to perform at the Saudi Tour and the Dutchman succeeded on the first attempt.

"On the way we did a lot of work, only Team DSM also rode a bit. The leading group was very strong and with twenty kilometers to go, the difference was two minutes," Groenewegen said in a post-race interview, where he also described a late puncture which risked having him miss out on the opportunity. "I rode further at a bad moment, but I let the whole team wait for me and they managed to bring me back well in two minutes. We rode very well today."

The Australian team had everything back under control into the final kilometers however, and with the absence of Pascal Ackermann in the sprint there were not many riders who could challenge him. “In the final we were only three riders, but we managed to wait for the right moment. We then went on and I saw no one anymore... I am very happy that we can already win in our first race," he says. 

"The shape was already good, but races is something else. This is an important competition for us and we have made our sponsor proud. The fact that we are heading here in Alula with that name on our shirt, gave a lot of motivation to do well," Groenewegen continued, in reference to the team's new sponsor which hails from Saudi Arabia.

Tomorrow's stage 2 will be another chance for Groenewegen to succeed. The field is modest currently in the Middle East, however he is keen that a lot of work has been done over the winter to have his leadout succeed in bigger races aswell.

“We did video analysis at training camp. We reviewed Sprints from last year. What went well, and what wasn't going well? We learned a lot from that. In addition, we also have a few new boys in the team, who are very strong. The arrival of Stybar is also a real boost. He knows from Quick-Step how it works in the sprint preparation," he concluded.