Dylan Groenewegen returned to the Tour of Britain in style on Saturday, winning the opening stage of the 2019 race between Glasgow and Kirkcudbright in Scotland.
Groenewegen beat Davide Cimolai (Israel Cycling Academy) and Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) to the line in the Dumfries & Galloway market town after a textbook lead-out from his Jumbo – Visma team-mates.
He moves into the green jersey of race leader going into Sunday’s second stage in the Scottish Borders.
“It was perfect; we had no help today so we did it all as a team. We rode very strongly to catch the breakaway and make it a sprint. I could take my own line; it was a very good lead-out. I was on the wheel of [Matteo] Trentin, and then I went full gas”, Groenewegen said.
“I’ll look at the road book this evening – I think tomorrow’s a new chance and I will try.”
Team Jumbo-Visma had worked tirelessly on the front of the peloton throughout the stage south from Glasgow city centre, with little assistance from other teams. Their work kept the day’s breakaway pinned with never more than a two-minute advantage, as Rory Townsend (Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes), James Fouche (Team WIGGINS Le Col), Jacob Scott (SwiftCarbon) and Dries de Bondt (Corendon – Circus) toiled in the warm Scottish sunshine on the race’s longest day.
Consolation for Townsend was the sprints jersey, combativity award and a position second in the general classification thanks to time bonuses, three seconds behind Groenewegen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eAZI8mUGPQ
Tour of Britain 2019 – stage 1 results (Glasgow – Kirkcudbright):
| 1 | Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) | 4:39:49 |
| 2 | Davide Cimolai (Israel Cycling Academy) | ,, |
| 3 | Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 4 | Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) | ,, |
| 5 | Ben Swift (Team Ineos) | ,, |
| 6 | Boris Vallee (Wanty-Gobert) | ,, |
| 7 | Trond Trondsen (Wanty-Gobert) | ,, |
| 8 | Jasper De Buyst (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 9 | Matthew Bostock (Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes) | ,, |
| 10 | Sacha Modolo (EF Education First) | ,, |
Tour of Britain 2019 – general classification after stage 1:
| 1 | Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) | 4:39:49 |
| 2 | Rory Townsend (Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes) | +03” |
| 3 | Davide Cimolai (Israel Cycling Academy) | +04” |
| 4 | Gediminas Bagdonas (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 5 | Dries De Bondt (Corendon-Circus) | +05” |
| 6 | Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) | +06” |
| 7 | Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) | +10” |
| 8 | Ben Swift (Team Ineos) | ,, |
| 9 | Boris Vallee (Wanty-Gobert) | ,, |
| 10 | Trond Trondsen (Wanty-Gobert) | ,, |
