Dries de Bondt looks to surprise with new role: "At AG2R they do not have Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogacar"

Dries de Bondt has spent large years with Alpecin-Deceuninck and has over this spring and summer helped the team into its most successful year to date. However he departs from the Belgian team with new ambitions and goals and looks to be a key player in the cobbled classics.

"At AG2R they do not have Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogacar at the start in the classics. That means that the team, just like all other teams without such a top performer, has to be creative in the classics," De Bondt told Sporza. "We will have to choose our moments in the race to send men forward. That is the only way to compete against those big men. Together with Stan Dewulf and Oliver Naesen, I get a role that suits me like a glove."

The team had high hopes when it signed Greg van Avermaet back in 2020 but the former Olympic Champion did not ultimately live up to the task. The classics block of AG2R hence struggled to get results and was virtually absent from the action this spring. Now that the Belgian has retired from pro cycling the team used it's budget to sign new leaders in Victor Lafay and Sam Bennett, but also De Bondt. The 32-year old continued to be very active this year winning the Antwerp Port Epic, he also won the points classification at the Tour of Guangxi after being part of the breakaway on five out of six stages.

One key difference that convinced him to make the move over was the difference in how the team visualized him as an important rider, as he explains: “Our chief sports director Julien Jurdie had dedicated part of the presentation to me and my role in the team. It really makes me feel wanted," he tells. "It also makes me want to start the season extra motivated and ambitious."