Daan Hoole keen "to help Mathieu van der Poel as long as possible" in Olympic road race

Whilst Mathieu van der Poel was also a certainty to lead the Dutch national team on the roads of Paris at this summer's Olympic Games, who would join the current Rainbow Jersey was a big question mark. One of those to get the nod, turned out to be Daan Hoole.

Gaining selection for both the road race and the time-trial, Hoole will get a double opportunity to help his nation strike gold later this summer. “I speak to Dylan van Baarle regularly. He's a buddy of mine. And I also have occasional contact with Mathieu van der Poel," an excited Hoole says in conversation with Wielerflits. "We don't race in the same races very often. However, I also lived for a long time in Spain where he now lives. We do train together every now and then. The contact has always been there. That will only increase in the coming weeks.”

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Whilst in the time-trial Hoole will of course be working for himself, in the road race, he understands his role is to help van der Poel in any way he can. In the short time since the official announcement of the team by Dutch national coach, Koos Moerenhout, Hoole has had an exchange of words with his team leader and is very excited by the prospect of riding together. 

“I told him that I have a lot of interest and morals for the Olympic Games, to help him there as long as possible," he recalls of the conversations shared between Hoole and van der Poel about the upcoming Olympic Games. "He let me know that he was also really looking forward to it and that he thought it would be great for us to go there together.”

“I watched both the time trial and the road race on Veloviewer. Yes, they are beautiful routes. I will certainly delve deeper into this in the coming period,” Hoole concludes. “I realize that the selection for the Olympic Games is something unique. Of course I am still busy with the Baloise Belgium Tour and then the National Time Trial Championships and on the road. That is where a large part of my focus lies now. After that there will be one thought, the Olympic Games.”

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