Dylan Groenewegen made it a memorable day for Roompot when he took the second win in just a few hours for the Dutch team in their home race Arnhem-Veenendal Classic. In a photo finish, he held off Yauheni Hutarovich (Bretagne) and Romain Maikin (Rusvelo) after his team had worked hard to bring it back together for a bunch sprint.

This morning Roompot had still not won a single race after more almost 8 months of racing at the top level. However, history proves that when the account is open, the wins come a lot easier and this has definitely been confirmed by the Dutch team.

Earlier today they opened their account in the final stage of the Tour du Limousin where Maurits Lammertink won a bunch sprint. This evening their sprinter Dylan Groenewegen continued the run of success when he came out on top in the Arnhem-Veenendal Classic.

Groenewegen is one of the biggest Dutch sprint talents and showed amazing condition in the recent Eneco Tour where he mixed it up in the bunch sprints and went on the attack on the cobbles. That made his team confident in their sprinter for their home race which has traditionally been decided in a bunch sprint.

However, for a long time it seemed that the sprinters would be denied as the race turned out to be an extremely fast affair. A strong 16-rider group animated the first half of the race and a furious chase meant that the race was far ahead of the fastest predicted schedule.

When the group that included Wilco Kelderman and Steven Kruijswijk was brought back, things calmed down as a 3-rider group went up the road. That’s when Roompot showed their intentions by joining forces with Rusvelo in the chase.

On the final lap of the finishing circuit, there were lots of attacks but Roompot responded firmly to everything and made sure that it all came down to the expected bunch sprint. Groenewegen launched his effort from afar and looked like he would take a comfortable win until Yauheni Hutarovich came flying. The Belarusian nearly passed the Roompot rider but in a photo finish the Dutchman was given the victory.

The series of one-day races in the Belgium and the Netherlands continues on Sunday when the GP Jeg Scherens takes place on the other side of the border.

A flat course

The 2015 edition of Arnhem-Veenendal Classic was held on a 195.7km course around the city of Veenendal. It was mostly flat but included some smaller climbs including the Beekhuizenseweg that the riders would tackle five times in the first half of the race while the Grebbeweg featured three times in the second half, with the final passage coming 25km from the finish.

It was a nice day in the Netherlands when the riders rolled out for their neutral ride and they got the race off to a fast start. In this hectic opening phase Luuc Cugter (Baby Dump) went down but he was quickly back on his bie.

A big group gets clear

Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Brian Van Goethem (Roompot), Connor Dunne (An Post), Joey Van Rhee (Metec) Mark McNally, Krul, Oscar Riesebeek, Martijn Budding and Hagen managed to escape and quickly got an advantage of 25 seconds before Steven Kruijswijk, Nick van der Lijke (LottoNL-Jumbo), Maxime Cam, Sjoerd van Ginneken (Roompot), Andrey Solomenniov (Rusvelo), Rens Te Stroet and Nieuwenhus joined them. For a long time those 16 riders fought hard to get a bigger advantage as the gap hovered between 30 seconds and 1.00 for a while.

The pace was too much for van Goethem who was distanced while the fast chase meant that the peloton split in two, with 20 riders giving chase. Meanwhile, there was no cooperation in the front group and so Kelderman, Kruijswijk and McNally took off.

A trio takes off

The big chase group was brought back by the peloton where a regrouping had taken place before Jimmy Janssens and Kevin Ledanois (Bretagne) managed to bridge the 25-seconds gap. However, it was all in vain as it all came back together after a brutally fast first part.

Kirill Pozdnyakov (Rusvelo) briefly got clear before Ryan Mullen (An Post), Pit Schlechter (Leopard) and Janssens formed what would be the break of the day. They had to work hard to get a big advantage as it was only 40 seconds at the first passage of the Grebbeberg but it quickly went out to 1.45.

Roompot in control

At the first passage of the finish line, it was 1.40 and it was Roompot who had taken responsibility for the chase. Meanwhile, Coen Vermeltfort (De Rijke) abandoned.

At the second passage of the line, the gap was only 1.05 and now Rusvelo were also working with the Roompot riders. The gap stayed around a minute until they hit the Grebbebberg for the final time where the attacking started.

Lots of attacks

Jasper Ockeloen was the first to try and he was quickly joined by Merijn Korevaar (Rabobank). However, they were quickly brought back and instead Dion Beukeboom (Park Hotel) took off.

Beukeboom was joined by several riders but that move was unsuccessful as Roompot and Rusvelo controlled everything firmly. The gap was now down to just 20 seconds and a Topsport rider and Kelderman had no success in bridging the gap.

Janssens dropped his companions when the gap was only 10 seconds but it was mission impossible and he was brought back. The attacks kept flying but Roompot and Rusvelo controlled things firmly until Bretagne took control. They led the peloton until they got to the flamme rouge where Roompot, Rusvelo and Wanty moved forward. A LottoNL rider did the lead-out while Jarl Salomein (Topsport) hit the deck but in the end Groenewegen came flying to take the win.