Unibet Rose Rockets still has much to fine-tune after Groenewegen's fourth place

Where Biniam Girmay could rely on an almost perfect lead-out in the Clásica de Almería, Dylan Groenewegen was left to fend for himself in the final kilometer. The fast man from Unibet Rose Rockets had to come from too far back in the sprint and ended up in fourth place. There is still much to improve, concludes sprint coach Marcel Kittel.

Unibet Rose Rockets kept their designated finisher out of trouble for a long time, but things went wrong in the finale marred by multiple crashes. Former top sprinter Kittel, who has been involved as sprint coach with the ambitious French team with Dutch roots since this year, also saw this.

Groenewegen therefore couldn’t count on his lead-out men in the final kilometer. "And then I also had to hit the brakes once," he points out during the debrief in the team bus. "I started the last corner from about twentieth position."

Kittel then pinpoints the problem. "What we saw until the last ten kilometers was good positioning, clear communication via the radio, issuing commands... We should have done the same in the finale. It’s always easy to say after the fact, but next time we need to stick together and communicate well even in truly chaotic situations."

Communication 
"I understand the disappointment. I’m disappointed myself because I know we can perform even better. But it’s also important to give ourselves time, since it’s still only February. Today (Sunday, ed.) there were many strong sprinters at the start and it was a hectic and technical finale, but we can definitely do this. If we keep communicating well," emphasizes the former sprinter.

In short, Kittel still sees plenty of room for improvement. "It’s important to discuss this. We have a lot to fine-tune, that’s for sure, but it’s also crucial to maintain morale. We definitely didn’t race a bad race," he remains more than optimistic looking ahead to upcoming races.