Dylan Groenewegen stresses importance of racing Dauphiné: "This tough race in the legs will take me further in the Tour"

Dylan Groenewegen has been a surprise name at the startlist of the Critérium du Dauphiné due to the difficult profiles, and he has indeed been dropped from the peloton on all three opportunities so far in which he had the chance to fight for a stage win.

In an interview with Wielerflits the 28-year old admits that he knew this would be a possibility, but it was a conscious choice of calendar to travel to France for the week: “We knew this in advance and we also knew that it would be fifty-fifty whether I would still join," he said. "It is also not easy that the early break always stays ahead for a long time, so that the first peloton has to keep driving at full speed. I will take these tough finals with me towards the Tour later on.”

With stages one, two and five behind where Groenewegen was one of the main favourites behind, it's safe to say he should likely leave the race empty handed. It didn't help that his main competitors, Wout van Aert and Ethan Hayter, are terrific climbers whose teams have made the stage very hard on several occasions for the pure sprinters. In addition, the lack of other pure sprinters that could help him further weights down on the Team BikeExchange - Jayco leader.  

His place at the Tour de France has even been questioned around social media. Team DS Matt White has brushed out such idea. "Dylan doesn't have to worry about his position. He gets enough men with him to make a good sprint train. We knew that this Dauphiné would be difficult for him, but we are also convinced that these tough stages will make him better for the Tour."

Groenewegen has even gone as far as saying he's reaching top form: “It sounds a bit crazy now because I'm still empty-handed. But the shape is better than ever. That may also indicate the level of this price. For a pure sprinter it is very difficult to survive the finals here. We know what we are doing and we also know that the Tour is the main goal of the year.”

Today the peloton will race into Gap, however the day's hills are likely to be too much for the Dutchman to survive once again - despite the risks of another breakaway succeeding. He stresses that he isn't in the race with negative feedback.

"You can't train against the hardness in this race. If you look at the wattages over the whole day, this is a very tough competition. I hear that from the other riders too. Of course it would have been nice for the confidence to win a stage, but this tough race in the legs will take me further in the Tour than being successful in a flat stage race," he concluded.