Dylan Groenewegen held his right index finger to his lips as he won the seventh stage of the Tour de France. The Dutchman had just silenced the world’s best sprinters, Fernando Gaviria and Peter Sagan.
Groenewegen, 25 of team LottoNL–Jumbo, surged pased Gaviria in the bunched sprint in Chartres to cap the three-week Grand Tour’s longest stage, 144 miles. It’s his second career Tour de France stage win after he won in Paris on the Champs-Élysées last year.
Gaviria and Sagan, who combined to win four of the first five stages, finished second and third, respectively. Sagan retained the green jersey as top sprinter, though Gaviria cut into the lead.
All of the men racing to wear the yellow jersey in Paris on July 29 finished together in the peloton on Friday. That includes Chris Froome, trying to match the record of five Tour de France titles, as well as 2014 Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali.
Belgian Greg Van Avermaet retained his yellow jersey for the fourth straight day, doubling his lead to six seconds over Brit Geraint Thomas. The Rio Olympic road race champion is expected to cede the overall race lead next week, when the Tour traverses cobblestones and then climbs the Alps.
Van Avermaet hopes he will hand the jersey to BMC teammate Richie Porte of Australia.
The Tour de France continues Saturday with a flat stage eight, live on NBC and NBC Sports Gold (full broadcast schedule here).
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