Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) broke his collarbone on stage 1 of the Renewi Tour, crashing closely on the road with Tim Merlier after the Soudal-QuickStep rider swung towards him as they sprinted throughout the Bilzen end in fourth and fifth.
Merlier – who may very well be seen placing his palms up in what seemed like remonstration as Groenewegen lay on the bottom in ache and distressed – was relegated to the again of the lead bunch by the race jury for the transfer within the dash. That shifted him from fourth to 83rd place on stage 1 however there will likely be extra alternatives for Merlier. His staff expects that he’ll be capable of begin on Thursday, escaping the exhausting fall that left him tousled with Groenewegen with ‘some abrasions’.
The race, nonetheless, is over for Groenewegen who was spearheading Jayco-AlUla’s stage successful hopes on the 5 stage Belgian tour.
“Sadly following the crash on the end line of stage 1 Renewi Tour, an x-ray has confirmed that Groenewegen has fractured his collarbone and he’s more likely to have surgical procedure within the coming days,” mentioned Jayco-AlUla in a medical replace.
The Renewi Tour marked Groenewegen’s return to racing after the Tour de France, the place he gained on stage 6 and continued a run of success which noticed his safe victory at Ronde van Limburg in Might, a stage on the Tour of Slovenia and the Dutch street race championships in June earlier than snagging the Grand Tour stage win in Dijon in July.
He was seeking to proceed his prime step visits at Renewi, however on what turned out to be his first and final alternative on the 2024 version of the race Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) swept up stage 1 forward of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Axel Zingle (Cofidis), whereas Groenewegen was moved as much as fourth after Merlier was relegated.
The Jayco-AlUla staff’s predominant aim earlier than the crash had been stage wins with Groenewegen, although one other was to see if they may assist Kell O’Brien to a excessive total putting. That agenda additionally did not go precisely as hoped on Wednesday because the Australian misplaced 28 seconds on stage 1, although not less than there was higher information for the squad in Spain with Eddie Dunbar sweeping up the stage 11 victory on the Vuelta a España.
The Renewi Tour now strikes on to a 15.4km particular person time trial on stage 2.
