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Quiet day with eyes on weekend with Groenewegen

Paul Martens led Team LottoNL-Jumbo to 36th today in the Tour of Britain stage, but the team has its eyes on the weekend with Dylan Groenewegen in the sprints.

Sky’s Wout Poels won the stage solo in Haytor, Dartmoor, and Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) took the overall lead with 49 seconds ahead of Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin)

"At the foot of the final climb, Maarten Wynants and Bert-Jan Lindeman were still in the first group," said Sports Director Merijn Zeeman. "When Dennis, Dumoulin, Izaguirre and Poels attacked for the general classification, they pulled over and took it easy to the top. The overall classification is not our goal here. We have come to sprint and win with Dylan Groenewegen."

Jasper Bovenhuis, Miguel Benito Diez, Tom Stewart and Giovanni Visconti attacked and managed to build a maximum lead of four minutes today. Team Sky closed the gap and on the steep final climb to Haytor, four riders rode clear.

Team LottoNL-Jumbo looks ahead to tomorrow afternoon, where there is a sprint opportunity. The riders face a short individual time trail in the morning and in the afternoon, a short, yet challenging stage on the same route as the time trail.

"Tomorrow there is probably a chance for Dylan," Zeeman added. "But it will mean hard work for the team. That is why we have saved as much energy as possible today. Of course we must also look at what the other sprint teams want here, but we're not going to depend on them. We will do everything to force a bunch sprint."

After double racing day, they will race a criterium in the heart of London to conclude the Tour of Britain. It will provide another opportunity for Groenewegen

 

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