Quinten Hermans takes maiden World Tour win at Basque Country: "If you have the right legs in the last two hundred meters, you can win"
Cycling
Quinten Hermans has for some years shown his talent on the road, not just cyclocross. This year he's decided to skip the cobbled classics and instead focus on Itzulia Basque Country and the Ardennes and this payed off as today he took his first win at the highest level.
“The team really did a great job. They really believed in me that I could finish today. I want to thank them very much, because I did the sprint, but they put me in the perfect position," Hermans said in a post-race interview. The Alpecin-Deceunink rider was one of the many outsiders into stage 3, a day marked by crashes. However the Belgian managed to avoid them and was in perfect position for the uphill bunch sprint that the riders had in store.
“We came from a main road and made a right turn. For me it was a perfect sprint because it was a bit uphill. Then it's best to turn it on. And like I said, they positioned me perfectly. Stan [Van Tricht] did a great job in the last six hundred meters," he thanks. "Then I had to position myself a bit, but I grabbed Aranburu's wheel. Then I knew: I have the right wheel. If you have the right legs in the last two hundred meters, you can win. It is awesome."
Hermans' triumph was convincing. Finding an uphill pinch to the line he managed to power through faster than anyone and hit the front at the right time. There was little that could be done; Edoardo Zambanini and Alex Aranburu came relatively close to him but did not have the power to go through Hermans.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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Victory! 🚀 Stage win for @Quintenhermans in @ehitzulia as our Belgian rider concludes stage 3 with an impressive finish sprint! Congrats, Quinten! 👏 #AlpecinDeceuninck #QuintenHermans #Itzulia2024
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