Dutch national team coach foresees a day of full-gas action: "The course lends itself to racing"

The hot topic of this World Championship is the circuit in Glasgow - which can drive you crazy. Mathieu van der Poel said he thought it was "on the edge" while Dylan van Baarle compared it to a "glorified criterium" and thought it unworthy of the World Championship.

Moerenhout agreed with both statements. "It has a criterium-like feel to it. Whether it's a course worthy of the World Championship? We're going to have a good world champion, so in that sense it's a World Championship-worthy course. But there will also be riders who think: what is this? We'll just have to deal with it."

Still, he tries to see the positive side of it. "As a country, we benefit from a real race, a tough competition. The course lends itself to racing. It doesn't really have any decisive climbs, but during the recon we again saw that it is only up and down from corner to corner. Combine that with the distance of 270 kilometers and you're talking about a grueling race. That offers plenty of options, things can happen anywhere," he says.

"We have a team that can race, can respond to what's going to happen. It's not up to us to take the initiative, but everyone knows what needs to be done and why they are here. Being able to do that for each other, that's partly what this selection is based on. But also on racing instinct and team spirit, which can be created in a few days."