Dylan Groenewegen will be the leader of LottoNL-jumbo in the Tour de France in 2017. The major goal in France: win a stage with the sprint train. "That would be great," the Dutch champion tells Wielerflits.

Groenewegen who will wear black shorts under the red-white-blue jersey of Dutch champion next year, wants to equal the eleven victories he took 2016. 

"It is difficult to say. But we will just do our thing. If that gives eleven wins or maybe five ... If there is a Tour stage in between, we will also be very satisfied. And that is the major goal for next year. A stage win would be great.”

With the departure of Sep Vanmarcke, the sprint train loses an important player, but Groenewegen gets Gijs Van Hoecke and Lars Boom as replacements. 

"Robert Wagner is my lead out -man. The guys who sit in front of him also know what to do. Gijs strengthens the team and Lars takes the place from Sep after the spring. We now have a very strong team, with perhaps larger engines than last year. We're going to see if we can take on the sprint elite."

Groenewegen is especially very happy with the signing of Boom.

“We will have a beautiful addition to the train with Lars Boom, who is an ideal rider for that role. He can direct the train well, and knows how to put us in position and to put out big watts.”

His campaign will look similar to 2017. He will start in the Tour of Qatar and the Tour of Algarve.

"The major goals in 2017 are the Dutch Championship and the Tour again. I would love to keep my red-white-blue top another year and show it in the Tour de France against the world’s top sprinters. In the Eneco Tour, I showed that I can beat them.

"I cannot wait to be able to sprint again for the victory. We prefer to do that as soon as possible in the Tour of Qatar and in classics like Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Gent-Wevelgem. Once the train rolls and sprints won, we take a huge boost for the rest of the season."