Irish champion Conor Dunne went up the road in Holland but it was Dylan Groenewegen who won the Veenendaal Classic.
Conor Dunne has led a three-way attack at the Veenendaal Classic in Holland. While the race came down to a bunch sprint won by Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo), Aqua Blue Sport made a big impact.
Irish road race champion Dunne was the first of the Irish team to hit out, going clear in the early escape in the 191.5km race.
It featured a large circuit of almost 130k following by two laps of 33km around Veenendaal. And on that finishing lap the riders faced the Grebbeberg climb.
Conor Dunne went clear with Piotr Havin (Beat Cycling Club), Ivar Slik (Monkey Town), and Jaap Koojiman (Vlasman Cycling Team).
While they combined well and pulled out a gap, the sprinters’ teams were determined to ensure the move didn’t get too far up the road.
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The escape would only be permitted to get 2½ minutes; nowhere big enough to make it all the way.
The four-man escape made it onto the local circuits but was caught towards the end of the first lap.
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And because 40km remained, there was plenty of aggression still to come.
Soon after Conor Dunne and those he was with were caught, another group went clear. It numbered 15 and included Mark Christian of Aqua Blue Sport.
However, they were pulled back with 20km to go, with Aqua Blue Sport again going clear.
This time Michel Kreder riding away with Dimitri Peyskens (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic).
Pitting two riders against a peloton led by the sprinters teams, mainly LottoNL-Jumbo and CCC Sprandi Polkowice, always looked like a big ask.
However, Kreder and his breakaway companion rode out of their socks to stay clear until 2km remaining.
But at that point they were reabsorbed; Groenewegen taking a home win from Wouter Wippert (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) and Sondre Holst Enger (Israel-Cycling Academy).
Conor Dunne, the only Irishman in the race, came home in 90th some 4:39 down.
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