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Nathan van Hooydonck on Primoz Roglic's departure from Jumbo-Visma: "It is a serious loss for the team"
CyclingMonday, 27 November 2023 at 10:57
The 2024 season is set to start and teams are on their final preparations before their first team training camps. Jumbo-Visma included, they have the presence of Nathan van Hooydonck but the Belgian has mixed feelings about his return in such an environment.
"Returning to the peloton is too dangerous. It's very nice to see everyone again, but also very confrontational and painful. It's always about next year. No one hears it, but I hear it. Then they say: riders have started training again, next month the riders will go on an training camp. But I'm not anymore," van Hooydonck told the Rode Lantaarn podcast. "There are a lot of people who come to me and show understanding for the situation. And how I understood it is that if I ask Merijn Zeeman next year if I can become a DS, he would still want to give me the chance. So it's a nice team."
Van Hooydonck suffered a heart attack in September, he was then given an internal defibrillator (ICD) and been diagnosed with a heart muscle anomaly. This condition made it impossible for the 28-year old to return to the sport at the highest level. He has since recovered and is back on the bike however with a different mindset of that in the past. He looks to continue connected with the team and perhaps behind the wheel, but any decisions are still being considered.
"I think they want to give me these opportunities because I have always done everything for the team. I really saw it as my team. More than other teams. That was all about winning together," he continues. "That's not something the marketing department made up, that's really something we stand for. There are a lot of people who don't believe that, but it is true. We do it together. I get the same treatment and facilities as Wout [van Aert] and Jonas [Vingegaard]."
Asked about the team's most notable transfer, the departure of Primoz Roglic, van Hooydonck comments: "I wouldn't call it a loss, but it is a serious loss for the team. He's also going to a good team! Primoz is one of the best riders in the world. At Arkèa Samsic he would not have been competition for Jonas, they cannot facilitate him. But BORA-hansgrohe is a good team with a good coaching staff."
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