Groenewegen comes up short of victory at AlUla Tour - "I think Dylan was the fastest today, but in the end he is not the winner"

Team Jayco AlUla are racing at 'home', with one of it's sponsors hosting the formerly named Saudi Tour. Hence, the team has a lot of focus, and brought Dylan Groenewegen to chase wins in the sprints. However, the Dutchman came up just short in the first stage of the race.

“The team did well today, but I almost crashed 1.2 kilometers from the finish. This caused me to come off my pedal and I lost a lot of positions. As a result, I was a little too far to approach the U-turn," the Dutchman said in a post-race interview. "Then I was too far for the last left bend again. I managed to move up a bit and finish my sprint, so I eventually crossed the line in second place. That's not good enough. I hope it won't be like that next time. My speed is good and I am looking forward to the next sprint opportunity.”

Groenewegen was beaten by surprise winner Casper van Uden and Tim Merlier. Nevertheless he has shown good feedback on the opening day of the race and will be a candidate for the two remaining expected bunch sprints. Tomorrow's hilltop finish may be too difficult for him, the team has admitted it as well.

Tristan Hoffman, leading the Australian team in the car this week, adds on today's finale: “I think Dylan was the fastest today, but in the end he is not the winner. He was still stuck in the last hundred meters, but when he got the space to sprint… He came like a rocket, but the finish came a little too early.”