DYLAN Groenewegen won stage six of the Tour de France, while second place Jasper Philipsen was relegated for deviating from this line.
The stage saw riders cover 163.5km from Mâcon to Dijon, across the Burgundy region of east-central France.
A threat of crosswinds led to nervous racing, as riders fought for position at the front of the peloton, and no significant breakaway was allowed to escape.
While the wind did cause splits, they would be short lived as the bunch remained together heading into the finish.
A wide run-in proved perfect for the sprinters and Team Jayco AlUla came out on top, expertly delivering Groenewegen to the line.
He narrowly beat Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck), while Biniam Girmay (Intermarché – Wanty) finished in third.
However, following review by race officials, Philipsen was later relegated to 107th for deviating from his lane and endangering others.
Unable to put things together so far this Tour, Carrick-on-Suir sprinter Sam Bennett crossed the line in 25th.
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) finished without incident and holds onto the yellow jersey ahead of stage seven’s time trial.
However, with world time trial champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) in second place on the general classification, everything could soon change.
Speaking after the stage, Groenewegen said that he could not have won without the support of his team:
“Yesterday, I was a bit disappointed about myself. Because the team did a really good job
“But today, we nailed it again and in the final kilometres we stayed calm
“I actually don’t know what happened, but I was first
“A victory in the first week, that means a lot for me but also for my team”
Coming over the line, Groenewegen was unsure if he had managed to win and he commented on just how closely matched his competitors are this year:
“Before, I would say there will be a beautiful picture but it was that close that I can’t celebrate on the finish line.
“The sprint field is really strong, all the lead-out teams are really strong
“But I was so proud about how we did today and hopefully we can do it again”