Four-time Tour de France stage winner Dylan Groenewegen has taken to delivering groceries by bike to the elderly and care providers during the coronavirus pandemic.
With racing canned for the foreseeable future while most of Europe remains under lockdown, the sprinting sensation from Jumbo-Visma has decided to make use of his spare time and ability to ride a bike at lightning speed.
The 26-year-old has become a courier for Bezorg de Zorg, a Dutch online service that allows the elderly, vulnerable and care workers to have their essential goods delivered to them by volunteers on bikes.
With his primary sponsor Jumbo, a Dutch supermarket, one of the scheme’s supporters, Groenewegen has been doing his bit by delivering food around his native Amsterdam in between turbo trainer sessions.
The sprinter took to Twitter to then offer up his services while posting some photos of jobs he had completed earlier.
‘No races for a while, but time to help. In the coming period, I will deliver groceries by bicycle to the elderly and care providers who are currently unable to do this themselves. Do you need help as a care provider or older person or do you want to help?’ wrote Groenewegen.
Rather than the standard Dutch town bike, the Dutchman is couriering to sponsored requirements using his team-issue Bianchi Oltre XR4 aero race bike.
With that and the fact he is one of the fastest riders in the world, you would hope that he could complete many more trips than most with particular efficiency in the final 200m of the journey.
Groenewegen is not the only WorldTour pro doing his bit during the coronavirus pandemic. Astana’s Davide Martinelli has been delivering medicine in home village of Lodetto near Brescia, Italy while Elise Chabbey of the Bigla-Katusha women’s team has drafted into the Geneva University Hospital as a junior doctor.