Dylan Groenewegen takes opening stage of Eneco Tour

Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen sprinted to victory in the opening stage of the Eneco Tour in Bolsward on Monday.

The home favourite, riding for the LottoNL-Jumbo team, pipped Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) to victory at the end of a group charge to the line.

Earlier, a five-man breakaway attempted to take the stage out of the hands of the sprinters, with the likes of Matteo Bono (Lampre-Merida) and Laurens De Vreese (Astana) prominent in the attempt.

But they were comfortably swallowed up by the peloton in the closing kilometres and with no-one prepared to take the initiative, the sprint finish became inevitable.

Katusha sought to take the initiative but Groenewegen timed his run to the line perfectly, while Bouhanni and Sagan came from the middle of the pack to join him on the podium.

Edvald Boasson Hagen took fourth for Dimension Data while the best Katusha could do was a fifth place for another Norwegian, Alexander Kristoff.

Groenewald will face further stiff competition from his sprinting rivals on Tuesday when the racers contest a short Tuesday time trial in Breda.