"Very close, but I win" - Dylan Groenewegen takes "hectic" sprint victory on opening stage of the Tour de Hongrie

Team Jayco AlUla's Dylan Groenewegen is the first leader of the 2023 Tour de Hongrie after taking a narrow win on stage 1 in a bunch sprint finish.

“I was a bit boxed in, but BORA - hansgrohe was there too and so I could join Danny van Poppel's slipstream,” said Groenewegen in his post-stage interview. “It was hectic. We expected that in advance because of the wind at our back. It was a fast final on a big track, which made it hectic. We had some stress because of that, but that was true for every team. Our team was very good at the right time. I still had Luka Mezgec as my lead out in the final, but I was able to join Danny's slipstream.”

A chaotic finale was made even more stressful by a massive crash that delayed half the peloton with just over 1km to go. After surviving the drama, Groenewegen was then up against some of the top sprinters in the bunch today such as Sam Bennett, Fabio Jakobsen and Caleb Ewan.

“It was a nice sprint with Bennett. Very close, but I win. And those victories count too. It's nice to start the race like that,” says the Jayco AlUla sprinter. “I was a bit too windy in the final phase, so maybe that can be improved. But for the first stage after a break, this is very nice. The last 300 meters went up, so you didn't see the finish until late, but it was a good sprint.”