San Sebastian podium a warning shot ahead of Vuelta a Espana for Lennert van Eetvelt: "When such strong riders ride for you, it gives you a lot of confidence"

Lennert van Eetvelt is one of the breakthroughs of the 2024 season. Early in the year he took several wins including the queen stage and overall classification at the UAE Tour. After missing out on a lot of the season with injuries, the Belgian has reached peak form once again just in time for the Vuelta a España and has finished third at Clásica San Sebastián.

“After my knee injury at the beginning of the year, I had a hard time coming back," the Belgian said in a post-race interview. With many of the climbers struggling in the heat, the 23-year old managed to put in a strong and consistent performance alongside the very best in the race. “It was also very hot. Today it would be much more fun to lie on the beach than to sit on the bike. But I’m very happy with this result. It’s great to race here.”

Van Eetvelt and Maxim van Gils went through the climb of Erlaitz in the small chasing group to Pavel Sivakov. Then, with trust in van Eetvelt, Lotto Dstny decided to chase the lone attacker themselves with van Gils and Andreas Kron leading the group until the final climb. "Today, Andreas and Maxim said they wanted to go for me. When such strong riders ride for you, it gives you a lot of confidence."

There he paced himself perfectly and hit the front in the steep part of the ascent. He paced it all the way to the top, dropping everyone except for Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi who then attacked near the summit. He couldn't catch up once again, but still rode ahead of the rest to take the final place of the podium at the end. "It’s a shame that I couldn’t follow the first two in the final. But third in San Sebastián, that’s great.”