BikeExchange-Jayco's fight to get Groenewegen in contention doesn't pay off

Australian WorldTour squad BikeExchange-Jayco were active in the opening stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné but ultimately came up short on the hilly course to Beauchastel.

The pack rides during the first stage of the 74th edition of the Criterium du Dauphine cycling race, 192 km between La Voulte-sur-Rhone and Beauchastel on June 5, 2022. Source: AFP / MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images

BikeExchange-Jayco made no secret of the fact that it was at the Dauphiné for stage wins with its top sprinter Dylan Groenewegen.

The recent Dutch recruit to the Aussie squad isn't perfectly suited to the hilly courses on offer for much of the traditional Tour de France warm-up race, but he's got the best pedigree of the sprinters present at the race. Any bunch sprint finish that he does make, he should be the favourite to win.

A win for Groenewegen wasn't the outcome of the opening stage after he was dropped with just under 38 kilometres remaining in the race. Despite a hard chase which saw the whole of the team driving a chasing group to attempt to re-join the peloton, the initial gap of 1'30 proved too much to recover, the closest they came was 28 seconds within the final eight kilometres.

“It could have gone either way today and we didn’t go down without a fight," said Luke Durbridge, the main pacemaker in the chase. "I think if we were maybe 10 seconds closer over the top of the climb, then we might have brought it back.

"We brought it back to 30seconds but it just wasn’t enough.”

Speaking ahead of the race, Groenewegen was looking for to the challenge of the French WorldTour event.

“It’s a race I like, it’s a hard race and I think we will have some good opportunities to try for a victory,” said Groenewegen. “There’s a couple of stages which look like they can be sprint finishes and it would be nice to get another win to keep the momentum as we get closer to the TDF.”

The Dutch sprinter is looking to make his first Tour de France appearance since 2019, the prodigious sprinter having been sidelined at his previous squad Jumbo-Visma with a lengthy suspension due to a nasty crash with Fabio Jakobsen at the Tour of Poland, and the team's increasing focus on the general classification at most Grand Tours.

It was his old team that took the win on the stage, with Wout van Aert claiming victory in the final sprint, overtaking Ethan Hayter (INEOS Grenadiers) in the final hundred metres as he claimed the first yellow jersey of the race.

The Critérium du Dauphiné continues tonight on SBS and SBS On Demand with coverage of the second stage commencing at 10:55pm (AEST). The course is another hilly one over 170 kilometres from Saint-Péray to Brives-Charensac.