Report: Dylan Groenewegen received death threats
Dutch sprinter received police protection after receiving menacing messages in aftermath of crash.
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Dylan Groenewegen received police protection in the days following his high-profile crash at the Tour of Poland that sent Fabio Jakobsen to the hospital.
That’s according to an interview in Wielerflits, which quotes Groenewegen saying he received a noose in the mail as part of menacing messages in the wake of the near-fatal Jakobsen crash.
“There were such concrete and serious threats that we called the police a few days after the crash,” Groenewegen told Wielerflits. “The police guarded our door for a few weeks. We could no longer just leave the house. If I wanted to go outside, a policeman had to join me to make sure nothing happened.”
Last week, Jumbo-Visma outlined a return to racing for Groenewegen after his six-month ban ends in May. There are no grand tours on Groenewegen’s calendar through the first half of the calendar.
Groenewegen recounted his growing concern in the wake of receiving messages and revealed his worsening anxiety with the alarm system in his house, and how he would get nervous if cars were following too closely.
“Of course that affects you,” he said. “What’s happening? How is this possible? What sick world do we live in? The most crazy things go through your mind. Getting out of bed in the morning was quite a challenge at the time.”