Thomas de Gendt on cycling in 2024: "The level is now a lot higher than before and I can no longer reach that level"

"I am a former breakaway king," Thomas de Gendt said in his final days as a pro rider in a Grand Tour. The Lotto Dstny rider is hanging up the wheels at the end of the season happy with his career, and admires how much the level has grown over the past decade - which has effectively left him in a position where he is unable to fight for big results.

"I have already tried this Vuelta twice: on Saturday I literally rode two kilometers ahead of the peloton. Once I was caught and they pulled through, I had a problem. If you want to call that an attack," de Gendt jokes in words to Het Laatste Nieuws. "On Thursday I was in the group of 42 riders, but I suffered from a pulling muscle in my right hamstring".

Despite his 37 years of age, the veteran's level hasn't really lowered. He is still able to put out big numbers, only now plenty more riders are able to do the same with the evolution in training, nutrition and preparation methods: "The level is now a lot higher than before and I can no longer reach that level. I am also no longer improving and my age is against me. Last Sunday I pedaled my second highest wattages over ten minutes of 2024".

"They were even my best ten minutes in a race, but I was just in the second group on the climb. In the past, those were values, with which I jumped away and gained a lead on the peloton. Now that was just enough to get to the top in the second group behind the favourites".

"In the past, I was in the breakaway when I wanted to be, a bit like Wout van Aert did in this Vuelta," he argues. "Now I have to be happy if I get in the breakaway once. And then I'm not even talking about competing for the win". That was very much the story of the year, where he wasn't able to obtain results.

But he is happy with the conclusion he's had with his career and i slooking forward to what's next. "Including the rest and run-up days, I will have spent two years of my life in a Grand Tour. That is enormous. It mainly means that I have remained relatively injury-free in my career. Those five hundred are a milestone. I'm married, and I don't feel like coming home sick to my family,” the Belgian concludes.