"It came down to the fact that I am needed to turn Arne into a top sprinter" - Boy van Poppel set to launch Arne Marit to glory

Van Poppel is becoming a household name in the sprinting guild. Father Jean-Paul won nine Tour de France stages, and now his sons Danny and Boy are becoming important lead-out men for BORA-hansgrohe and Intermarché - Wanty. Older Boy van Poppel now tells IDLProCycling.com, about his new mentor role for talented Arne Marit.

"I will be the lead-out for Arne Marit instead of Gerben Thijssen," said the Dutchman. "We discussed it quite a bit. Initially, Gerben wasn't really in favor of it, and neither was I. Now I will be the lead-out for Arne Marit. We had many discussions with the team leaders, and in the end, it came down to the fact that I am needed to turn Arne into a top sprinter. The way Aike put that, I found it quite an honor," he said humbly.

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"Of course, you also want to grow alongside Gerben, but on the other hand... I've already ridden all those races like the Tour, and maybe there's more for me to achieve with Arne. I've already seen that there's a lot of potential in that young man, but there are still some areas we can work on. Hopefully, we can turn it into as beautiful a project with Arne, because you can see it in that case too: quality takes time. And that naturally comes with ups and downs," Van Poppel knows.

"I try to coach those guys in front of me well, so that we can really ride as a team. Of course, we always aim for a lead-out until a few hundred meters from the finish. The farther I can go, the more I can do for the sprinter in the final kilometer. But sometimes, of course, I have to do my job earlier," he notes that it's not always as plain and simple.

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