Thomas De Gendt devotes everything to his last Vuelta participation: "I want to ride at my best level one last time"

Thomas De Gendt will be at the start of the Vuelta a Espana next Saturday. It will be his very last Grand Tour, but De Gendt definitely doesn't plan to go out without a result. For that purpose he has once again gone all-out in his preparations, putting extra detail on his diet.

"Thomas De Gendt has started doing things in the area of ​​nutrition that he has never done before," says Kurt Van de Wouwer, sports manager at Lotto Dstny, in an interview with Sporza. He further explains that "he started working with dieticians" and weighing his food.

Lara Van Genechten, team dietician at Lotto Dstny, adds: "It all started just before the Belgian Championship. In our WhatsApp group we asked which riders wanted bicarbonate. Thomas responded that he wanted bicarbonate. But everyone thought that was a joke."

De Gendt often makes such jokes, so his request was not taken seriously. "When Thomas arrived at the Belgian Championship and saw that we had not prepared anything for him, he said: 'Where is my bicarbonate? From now on I want to do everything in terms of nutrition for three months, because in the Vuelta I want to ride at my best level one last time.'"

What De Gendt used to eat was already 'pretty okay', according to Van Genechten. "But the quantities had to be different and he also had to get structure into it," he says. For the Vuelta, the 37-year-old rider has also asked for bicarbonate, a substance to counteract acidification. "We have already made a plan for which stages we will use bicarbonate. Those are the days on which Thomas wants to compete for stage wins. Which stages? That will of course remain a secret."

De Gendt won at least one stage in all the Grand Tours over his career. If he were to win another stage in the Vuelta, he would have won two stages in all three. That is his big goal in his last year as a pro, he announced last winter. De Gendt also said at the time that he might want to continue for a few more years in the continental circuit in Asia.