Lennert van Eetvelt believes his time will come to win big but "let's hope that five new Pogacars do not emerge in the meantime"
Cycling
Lennert van Eetvelt is one of the strongest climbers in development currently in the peloton and in 2024 he stunned. He is aware of the very high level surrounding him but believes that in a few years he may have his opportunities to win bigger and bigger races.
"I have the advantage that I am three years younger than Pogacar and I hope that he does not continue to race until he is 35. Let's hope that five new Pogacars do not emerge in the meantime, because then it will be difficult to win anything," van Eetvelt joked in an interview with Wielerrevue.
The Belgian has only raced with Pogacar at Strade Bianche and Il Lombardia this year, but it was enough to see dominant performances with his own eyes. "He is extremely strong. He may make progress for another year or two, but after that it will also become a bit less for him. So I do hope that I can reach a similar level in the future," the Lotto Dstny rider says, quite ambitiously.
But van Eetvelt has good reasons to believe he may reach a very high level, close to what the top riders have today. He still has more room for progression than the current top-of-the-world climbers but this year has already performed brilliantly, winning by surprise the UAE Tour with an extraordinary ascent to Jebel Hafeet. He then had to stay out of competition for months due to an injury but still stunned in the final months of the season.
He was third at the Clásica San Sebastián, impressed as he matched and almost beat Primoz Roglic in the first mountaintop finish of the Vuelta a España, and then went on to win his second World Tour stage-race of the year at the Tour of Guangxi where he finished his season. He was also seventh at Il Lombardia, climbing with Remco Evenepoel and Enric Mas in pursuit of Tadej Pogacar when the World Champion attacked to victory.
"I believe that my results are good enough to continue riding for myself. Being a leader when you are racing for tenth place every day is not super cool, but I just want to keep fighting for the win. I also have the confidence that that will remain possible in the rest of my career," he concluded.
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