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Tom Boonen and Jan Bakelants criticize Belgian Worlds selection: "I would have never taken Jasper and Wout to a World Championships together"
CyclingFriday, 04 August 2023 at 11:17
Within the Belgian analyst community there is rarely a moment of agreement with the lineups and tactics for World Championships, and 2023 is no exception. Despite going in with arguably the strongest lineup, Tom Boonen states that he would never team up Wout van Aert with Jasper Philipsen.
"I think this is also a reward selection. No buttons have been cut. I would have never taken Jasper and Wout to a World Championships together. Never," Boonen said in the Wielerclub Wattage. “They both deserve it hard. That's not the point. But that it will be tactically difficult? Absolutely, the task of a selection manager is to eliminate conflicts before the race. And take it from me: there will be those conflicts."
Boonen's argument relies on the scenario of the race in Glasgow, with 270 kilometers, 3500 meters of climbing and an extremely technical and punchy final circuit, coming down to a sprint where both Belgians are in position to win. He worries that can happen and the two won't help each other, possibly ending in disaster for the squad. "That didn't happen. Take 2 riders with the same profile to ride the final and there's bound to be something somewhere that isn't comfortable for one of them. You don't want that.”
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Adding Remco Evenepoel and an overall very strong support team, Belgium is one of the teams that is certain to attack. In 2018 the European Championships took place in Glasgow and it was a short group including van Aert fighting for the win. Having this trio in the lead of the team provides plenty cards in a race that is expected to be very aggressive and where anticipating rival teams can decide the race, putting all three in the position where they can be World Champions.
“I understand that you want to take people with you. Especially Jasper, who has recovered extremely well after the Tour. I know him and I wish him that very much. But you can't go to the World Championships with 2 men to ride the sprint. That never works out," the former classics legend and World Champion believes. "You want to sprint when you see the finish, not launch the sprint. I had not done it.”
“Wout falls between two stools. He has to break open the race earlier and I find that disrespectful to Remco Evenepoel," Jan Bakelants argues as well falling on a controversial statement. "He is the outgoing world champion. Evenepoel is no longer a rider to whom you say: you can try from lap 5 to 3 before the finish, that is your zone. Evenepoel is currently the best Belgian rider. If he wants to go in the last lap, no one can argue with that.”
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