Team Jayco AlUla rider Dylan Groenewegen won the opening stage field sprint at the Tour of Slovenia, then did it again two days later to continue his string of success and bring his career stage win tally in Slovenia to seven. Riding with his CADEX 50 Ultra WheelSystem and Aero Cotton tires, along with the CADEX Aero Integrated bar, the 31-year-old from Amsterdam delivered both victories after strong work by his team.
On the opening 168km stage, Groenewegen's teammate Max Walscheid put him into perfect position after the team worked to make sure he was one of the first riders to get through the final corner. All that was left was for the Dutch national champion to unleash his powerful sprint and beat Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) to the line.
“The best position in the final was the wheel of my teammates,” Groenewegen said. “They kept me in the front extremely well. Everyone knew that in the last left-hand bend it was very important to have a good position there. Max Walscheid made sure I could make the perfect corner, so I had an excellent starting position for the sprint.”
Groenewegen was again triumphant two days later when he took the victory ahead of Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates). With that win, his seventh in total, the Dutchman set a new record for the number of career stage wins at the Tour of Slovenia.
“On paper, today may have looked like it was definitely going to be a bunch sprint, but the finale was not that easy at all,” Groenewegen said. “The course went up and down a lot, there were plenty of narrow roads and there was also some wind. "Towards the end, the team pushed hard and did everything possible to be able to put me in contention for the bunch sprint. For that reason, we absolutely deserved this win. It was a great battle with Olano, I really had to go deep to beat him. This kind of team performance makes me feel really good.”
