Dylan Groenewegen has won the seventh stage in the Tour de France in an impressive way. The 25-year-old sprinter of Team LottoNL-Jumbo was superior during the bunch sprint in Chartres.

For Groenewegen, it’s his second stage victory ever in the Tour de France. Last year, he won at the Champs-Élysées in Paris. It’s Groenewegen’s tenth victory of the season and it’s the twenty-first for Team LottoNL-Jumbo.

In the longest stage of the Tour de France, the wait was long for the final sprint. Groenewegen was perfectly positioned by Paul Martens, Amund Grondahl Jansen and Timo Roosen. He timed his sprint superbly and won it in a superior way. Robert Gesink and Antwan Tolhoek did a great job too by keeping control in the peloton.

“Finally”, Groenewegen sighed. “In the first two stages, I didn’t have enough power in my legs. But I felt that it improved every day. In the fourth stage, my timing was wrong, but I felt good. Compared to last year, I feel more pressure now. The fact that I’m winning the stage here is beyond great. The team did a very good job today and I’m grateful for the confidence that I get from the team. I positioned myself in Kristoff’s wheel and with two hundred metres to go I thought: this is the moment. This really gives a lot of confidence for the coming stages.”

In 2016, Team LottoNL-Jumbo started the sprint project around Groenewegen. The goal was to achieve success in the 2018 Tour de France.