Dylan Groenewegen and Olav Kooij missed out on the victory in the first edition of the Copenhagen Sprint on Sunday. Groenewegen had to acknowledge Jordi Meeus as the winner, while Olav Kooij was unable to compete for the victory due to a crash.
In the new one-day WorldTour race, the peloton had to cover 235.6 kilometers between Roskilde and Copenhagen. As the name of the race suggests, a sprint was expected in the streets of the Danish capital.
For a moment, a different scenario seemed to unfold. After several attacks, a leading group of four men emerged, including Daan Hoole. The group’s lead increased to more than half a minute towards the end. But the escapees were caught in time.
At that moment, the peloton had already been severely thinned out by a crash 10 kilometers from the finish. A large group of riders, including Kooij, fell. As a result, he could not compete for the victory.
Thus, the eyes from a Dutch perspective were on Groenewegen, but the Dutchman of Team Jayco AlUla was not involved and finished seventh. The Belgian Meeus was the fastest. He narrowly left the Frenchman Alexis Renard behind him. Emilien Jeannière became third.
The first edition of the Copenhagen Sprint also took place for the women on Saturday. Lorena Wiebes lived up to her favorite role by sprinting to victory with dominance.