"The main focus is on the final week" - youngster Lennert Van Eetvelt eyes final top-10 at Vuelta
Cycling
In Remco Evenepoel's absence, it will be even younger prospects Cian Uijtdebroeks and Lennert Van Eetvelt who will be tasked with carrying the torch of Belgian up high. And where Uijtdebroeks might be bound by team duties as a teammate of defending champion Sepp Kuss, Van Eetvelt should be entrusted with full leadership in the experienced lineup brought by Lotto Dstny.
The 23-year-old Van Eetvelt impressed with overall victory at UAE Tour in February, however from that point onwards, things went sideways for the Belgian, who now sets a more modest goal for himself: "A place in the top 10 would be a good result for me," he tells Het Nieuwsblad. "I will try to follow the favorites and ride at a consistently high level for three weeks. It is certainly not my ambition to sneak into a breakaway. Following the favorites as long as possible, that is my plan."
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"I am actually happy that I am here at the start in good shape," the youngster continues. He had to deal with a painful knee injury again this season and on top of all the bad luck was also hit by a car during training. "After my knee problems I rode both the Belgian championships and the Sibiu Tour and I was not satisfied with my condition. I had to work hard to get back to this level, including during a training camp in Tenerife."
He succeeded, as evidenced by his podium place in the Clásica San Sebastian last weekend. "That third place gave me and the team a lot of confidence. I am also happy that I can start here with experienced riders like Victor Campenaerts, Andreas Kron and Thomas De Gendt. The course is very tough, but I have done a good recon of the last seven mountain stages. The first week is also difficult with the heat and the course, but the focus is on the final week."
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- Oh, and yes: I am no psychiatrist/psychologist, but Bruyneel and Texas Turd are both sociopaths. It goes well beyond "protect my world and anyone would" that is the usual zeitgeist of their bullshit. No normal person has Bob Roll go at Greg Lemond with an audio recording device at Ron Keifel's bike shop...for example.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- Funnier: this website keeps giving credo to their ramblings. In this case, why in any possible way would Boonen want to create a fantasy world to attach himself to these two clowns when more likely he would want to forget he was even there? Laughable.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- A sociopath is an informal term used to describe someone with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), a mental health condition characterized by a chronic pattern of disregard for social norms, laws, and the rights and feelings of others.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- Rowe spent his whole career on one team being nothing more than a thug for Skyneos. I have no idea why another team would want import this type of person into their program.Sweep26-12-2024
- “CyclingUpToDate would like to extend it's condolences to family and friends of Pascal.” Paging a copy editor….menk26-12-2024
- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024