"Of course I'd like to win" - Quinten Hermans confident of great form ahead of Ardennes, seeks Brabantse Pijl win
Cycling
Quinten Hermans is having a slower start to his season but with a specific purpose. The Belgian looks to peak now in the Ardennes classics where he will have an important and possible leading role at Alpecin-Deceuninck, and he starts off his campaign today at Brabantse Pijl where he is a contender for the victory.
"I get confidence from the fact that the approach, a long altitude internship in Denía, has worked excellently for the Flemish block. I followed the same schedule as Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen, only three weeks later," Hermans told Het Nieuwsblad. "The way they rode Tirreno-Adriatico, I was able to do the Basque Country. The training approach is individual, but at the same time we follow the same trajectory to reach that top form.”
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After witnessing the utter brilliant performances of both van der Poel and Philipsen throughout this spring, amounting to wins at Tirreno-Adriatico, Milano-Sanremo, Classic Brugge-De Panne and a one-two in Paris-Roubaix, it's safe to say Alpecin-Deceuninck timed their build-up perfectly. Hermans now hopes to be in the same situation, but eyeing a different type of races.
He's shown good form at the E3 Saxo Classic where he worked for the team but let go the cobbled monuments so as to focus in the Ardennes, and raced Itzulia Basque Country as preparation. “Some days were eco days. It is not for nothing that I fell ill during or after the Basque Country in the past two years. Whoever participates there for the prizes pays the toll in the classics. You just have to put the brakes on for a few days to be top in the classics," he admits.
Having completed the Basque race he now finally enters the crucial moment of his first half of the season. Last year's runner-up at Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a candidate alongside teammates Soren Kragh Andersen and Axel Laurance for today's Brabantse Pijl, however he will have more opportunities throughout the following week and a half to take a big result.
“I know I did everything I could to be good for the next two weeks. If it turns out that myself and we as a team are being beaten by someone stronger, then we have to accept that. I expect an open race in the Brabantse Pijl. There is not one team at the start with a pronounced leader. Of course I'd like to win," he concluded.
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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What do names like Hertstraat, Moskesstraat, Holstheide or Hagaard tell you? Right, it's time for @DeBrabantsePijl, which is the start of the final part of the classic spring This is our line-up for Wednesday! @AlpecinCycling @Deceuninck @canyon_bikes #alpecindeceuninck
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