"Becoming a teammate of Pogacar is very special" - Rune Herregodts determined to prove himself at UAE Team Emirates
Cycling
UAE Team Emirates have five new faces arriving ahead of the 2025 season. One of those signings is 26-year-old Belgian, Rune Herregodts, who joins on a two year deal from Intermarché - Wanty and the most recent ZLM Tour winner is determined to prove his worth.
"I was flattered that such a big team showed interest," admits Herregodts in conversation with Wieler Revue about the somewhat surprising move to the all-conquering powerhouse of the modern peloton. "Of course I also thought for a moment: I am happy at Intermarché - Wanty and how many chances will I get at such a big team? It was not an easy decision, but UAE Team Emirates means another step up."
"I started cycling more as a cycling fan than it was always my big dream. If you can ride for such a big team... That is very special and I never dared to imagine it," the Belgian time-trial specialist adds, noting also how the obvious lure of riding alongside Tadej Pogacar also helped to make up his mind. "Yes, becoming a teammate of Pogacar is also very special. It would be strange to say that you only go to a team because of one rider. That is not true, but that does not make it any less special."
Having proven himself to be a very capable rider over the last few seasons, adding five victories to his palmares and making a Grand Tour debut at the 2023 Vuelta a Espana (although he abandoned the race on stage 16 ed.), Herregodts is now set to test himself again and by joining a team with arguably the best set up in the entirety of the modern peloton, it wouldn't be at all surprising to see the 26-year-old improve his level greatly over the coming seasons, as many who have joined UAE Team Emirates have similarly done.
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024