Winning the Tour de France means a lot. For Dylan Groenewegen, his stage 3 victory was an emotional moment of redemption after he was banned for nine months by the UCI for triggering Fabio Jacobsen's crash at the 2020 Tour de Pologne.

The Dutch rider's deep personal joy was evident as he wiped away tears after hugging his father across the finish line, but his sprint victory in Sønderborgit also resonated with his new team, BikeExchange-Jayco, which has been banned from the 2023 World It was a moment of relief, satisfaction, and celebration for the Australian team, which is fighting to avoid relegation from the Tour and win a big-name title sponsor.

The team's celebration was as emotional as Groenewegen's, with one car stopping in the middle of the road after a deviation near the finish and hugging team owner Jerry Ryan, manager Brent Copeland, and other hardworking staff. Euphoric screams echoed through the finish area.

"It's been a long road," Groenewegen said, referring not only to the chase after crashing inside the peloton with 10 km to go, but also to his own return after a dramatic crash at the 2020 Tour of Pologne.

"I want to thank my team, my family and my friends. It was hard, not just physically, but of course mentally as well. After something like that ......."

Grunewegen last won a stage in the Tour de France in 2019. His team, BikeExchange-Jayco, also last won a stage in 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic severely restricted travel to Australia, so the group Ryan had supported for over a decade at the Tour de France This was also the last time he traveled to see the group he had supported for over a decade in action at the Tour de France.

Ryan, a businessman, almost stopped funding the team on several occasions, but his love of the sport and Australian cycling prevented him from leaving without significant financial support.

"It's special to be here to see Dylan win and to see the whole team celebrating," Ryan told Cycling News after hugging sport director Matt White and Groenewegen's father.

"What a great effort. They knew it wasn't that far off on Saturday and they stuck to the plan again. Racing is about planning, it's about persistence, it's about having the right people and the right team. I was very lucky with a great organization.

"It's all about resilience and our resilience paid off and we won. I am confident that more will happen during the Tour."

Groenewegen finished a disappointing eighth in Saturday's second stage, the sprint in Nyborg. He and his team were determined to make up for it on Sunday and celebrated their success together.

Lead-out man Luca Medjeck revealed how Groenewegen and his team turned Saturday's sprint defeat and mistakes into success and celebration on Sunday.

"Dylan knew on Saturday that he should have followed me and (Michael) Matthews in the final. Dylan knew he should have followed me and Matthews in the finals on Saturday.

"That's one of his strengths, once he makes a mistake, he really burns the next day. I saw him get beat this year and the next day he really rises to the occasion and does double power.

"There was a lot of pressure on this race because we weren't going for GC. We know that there aren't that many sprint stages, so we're going to have to be very careful and not let the conditions get in the way of our goal.

As a sprint team, we want to set the tone early in the Tour. If we can win the first stage, it will definitely make the next three weeks easier."