Dylan Groenewegen "will be ready" for Critérium du Dauphiné in search of wins

Dylan Groenewegen will be using Critérium du Dauphiné as a part of his preparation for the Tour de France. The Dutch sprinter will form part of the BikeExchange-Jayco team hunting stage wins at the eight-day race where they collectively hope to gain momentum ahead of the French Grand Tour in July.

“After a small break, I was very happy to take two victories in May, and now I’m ready for the final preparation block before the Tour de France, and that continues at Dauphine,” Groenewegen said.

"It’s a race I like. It’s a hard race, and I think we will have some good opportunities to try for a victory. There are a couple of stages that look like they can be sprint finishes and it would be nice to get another win to keep the momentum as we get closer to the Tour de France.”

The Dutchman won four Tour de France stages between 2017 and 2019. He was banned for nine months after causing Fabio Jakobsen's high-speed collision at the 2020 Tour de Pologne, and he didn't ride in the Tour de France last season.

Groenewegen has had a good early-season campaign, winning two races on the Saudi Tour, one on the Tour de Hongrie, and another on the Veenendaal-Veenendaal Classic.

“The goal for us at Dauphiné is to go for stage wins. We have Dylan, who is in good shape. He had some wins in May and he is ready to try to take a stage win at Dauphiné. It will be a high level of competition as always at this race, and with the parcours, there looks to be a few stages that could finish in bunch sprints, so we will be ready for those, "said the BikeExchange team’s director, Tristan Hoffman.

“For the hillier stages we have young [Kevin] Colleoni, so he will have a go and see what he can do on those hard stages and see if he can place himself high up on the GC," he concluded.