{"id":663104,"date":"2026-05-11T03:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T03:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/663104\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T03:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T03:56:10","slug":"dylan-groenewegen-on-mistake-that-costs-him-giro-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/663104\/","title":{"rendered":"Dylan Groenewegen on mistake that costs him Giro victory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/dylan-groenewegen\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dylan Groenewegen<\/a> stands talking to the press \u2014 including IDL Pro Cycling \u2014 on Sofia&#8217;s main boulevard, a cheer erupts just beyond the barriers. It is the eight men of Soudal Quick-Step, celebrating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/cycling\/groenewegen-comes-fastest-but-magisterial-bike-jump-magnier-secures-second-win\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Paul Magnier<\/a>&#8216;s second stage win of this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/giro-ditalia\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Giro d&#8217;Italia<\/a>. &#8220;You can hear what that sounds like \u2014 that&#8217;s what we want with this team,&#8221; says Groenewegen.The Dutch leader of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/unibet-rose-rockets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Unibet Rose Rockets<\/a> came to the Giro with a stage win as his goal, knowing that the first three days in Bulgaria would give him two immediate opportunities. On day one, the Amsterdammer crashed out in Burgas; two days later in Sofia, he came much closer.&#8221;The team were brilliant,&#8221; said Groenewegen \u2014 and he hit the nail on the head. From controller Hartthijs de Vries to lead-out man Elmar Reinders, the Rockets executed perfectly. But as so often in a sprint, the difference came down to the details. Groenewegen <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/cyclingontnt\/status\/2053484159658610962?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">waited a fraction too long<\/a>, allowing the other sprinters to take the inside line on the Bulgarian cobblestones.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Where we fell short on day one, we got it right this time. But I should have gone earlier \u2014 with around 200 metres to go. I had the speed, so that was just stupid,&#8221; said Groenewegen, putting his finger precisely on the problem.<\/p>\n<p>Had the Dutchman taken the inside line first \u2014 and the fastest route to the finish \u2014 and hit the cobblestones with more speed, there would likely have been little anyone could do. Despite a late jump, he came up centimetres short. &#8220;It was too late, and I felt that immediately.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Continue reading below the video.<\/p>\n<p>Groenewegen gets another chance on stage 6Nevertheless, it was the first Grand Tour podium in the history of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/tdt-unibet-cycling-team\" title=\"Unibet Rose Rockets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Unibet Rose Rockets<\/a> \u2014 and we should not forget that Groenewegen had been riding with a dislocated shoulder since Friday. &#8220;But I&#8217;m not thinking about that now. A crash can always happen. We&#8217;re here to win \u2014 now and in the first stage,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This result is encouraging, but next time we want to win.&#8221;That next time comes in Naples, where the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/cycling\/giro-ditalia-2026-stages-preview-ciao-bulgaria-bring-on-18-stages-in-italy\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">fast men head on stage 6<\/a>. First, Groenewegen and his teammates have a rest day \u2014 flying out of Sofia to Italy on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Dylan Groenewegen stands talking to the press \u2014 including IDL Pro Cycling \u2014 on Sofia&#8217;s main boulevard,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,273804,163619,85,172161],"class_list":["post-663104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-dylan-groenewegen","tag-giro-ditalia","tag-sports","tag-unibet-rose-rockets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}