Many disappointing performances from Dutch cyclists in the Tour de France
It was an inconsistent Tour de France for the Dutch cyclists who participated in the prestigious race. Out of the 14 cyclists, around five will look back on a successful race in France, especially Dylan Groenewegen, who was the only Dutch cyclist to win a stage.
Groenewegen was the fastest in the bunch sprint at the sixth stage. It was the sixth Tour de France success of the 31-year-old Amsterdammer’s career. Just five Dutch cyclists have won more: Joop Zoetemelk, Gerrie Knetemann, Jan Raas (ten), Jean-Paul van Poppel (nine), and Jan Janssen (seven).
Many of the other Dutch cyclists had a disappointing tour or were anonymous in their performances. The Tour ends on Monday night with a time trial in Nice. No Dutch time trial cyclists in the race are expected to pick up any points, meaning that, in all likelihood, it will only be Groenwegen who picked up a stage this year. Wilco Kelderman is the closest Dutch cyclist to race leader Tadej Pogacar, who is in 21st place, with an hour and 15 minutes gap to Pogacar.
NOS analyst Tom Dumoulin, who finished second in the Tour de France in 2018, praised the debutants' performances, including Kelderman, Frank van de Brook, and Bart Lemmen.
Experienced cyclist Mathieu van der Poel did a great job helping his teammate Jasper Philipsen to win three bunch sprints. But outside of this, it was a disappointing tour for Van der Poel in France. However, there were not a lot of stages that were well suited to Van der Poel.
It was a hugely disappointing tour for Dutch cyclist Fabio Jakobsen, who left the Tour ill in the twelfth stage. His DSM teammates Bram Welten (out of time in the 15th stage) and Nils Eekhoff (gave up in the 19th stage due to tiredness) also did not reach the end of the Tour.
