Cycling: Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) won the start of this year's Eneco Tour. After almost 185km around the Dutch municipality of Bolsward, the 23-year-old youngster triumphed in the sprint ahead of Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and the newly crowned European Champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff). Marcel Kittel (Etixx – Quick-Step) had to settle for ninth place.
Exciting start to the last stage race of the WorldTour 2016. With Dylan Groenewegen, however, a rider cheered at the end who hardly anyone had on the list for victory. Not because the 23-year-old Dutchman doesn't have the quality, but for many top sprinters the Eneco Tour is the dress rehearsal for the road world championships in Qatar in around three weeks. The sprint celebrities are big: In addition to the three German top people Marcel Kittel, André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) and John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin), Peter Sagan, Nacer Bouhanni and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) also start in the Dutch-Belgian stage race.
Unsurprisingly, today's start focused on the flat finale. After the escape group of the day was just before the 3km mark, the teams of the favorites took over the command. Greipel's team Lotto Soudal was particularly busy, but LottoNL, Etixx – Quick-Step and Cofidis were also regularly at the top. It was all the more surprising that the finale was anything but regular: Due to the many battles for positions, neither team really managed to build a lead-out and the fast men were almost on their own.
Among the victims were Marcel Kittel and André Greipel, both of whom were fully integrated at the decisive moment and were unable to intervene. The sprint was finally opened by the Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), from whose slipstream Groenewegen launched his decisive attack and drove to victory. Nacer Bouhanni and Peter Sagan were still able to move up to the podium, but the 23-year-old professional from LottoNL-Jumbo couldn't resist winning the day.
Final result stage #1 Eneco Tour 2016
| PLATZ | Driver | Country | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dylan Groenewegen | NED | Team LottoNL Jumbo | 04:14:00 |
| 2 | Bouhanni born | FRA | Cofidis | |
| 3 | Peter Sagan | SVK | Tinkoff | |
| 4 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | NOR | Dimension Data | |
| 5 | alexander kristoff | NOR | Katusha | |
| 6 | James Nizzolo | ITA | Trek-Segafredo | |
| 7 | Arnaud Demare | FRA | FDJ | |
| 8 | Andrea Guardini | ITA | Astana | |
| 9 | Marcel Kittel | GER | Etixx - Quick Step | |
| 10 | Roy Jans | BEL | Wanty - Groupe Gobert |