“We didn’t get much support from the other countries" - Belgian coach rues disjointed chase of Tadej Pogacar in Zurich

In his final race as the national coach of Belgian cycling, Sven Vanthourenhout didn't manage to leave on the ultimate high of a World Championship road race victory. Rather than Remco Evenepoel, glory went, in sensational style no less, to Tadej Pogacar.

"I’m not disappointed after today. Remco finished fifth and he had to be 100% to win. He wasn’t," reflects Vanthourenhout honestly afterwards in comments to VTM. "Still, I think he could still win even in this scenario if you saw the course of the race. We decided not to ride when Pogacar attacked, but that meant we had to stay alert for riders who wanted to cross. I didn’t expect the race to be over then. It wasn’t, but it was decisive. You could say that Remco Evenepoel had to go with him, but on the other hand, it was still 100 kilometres to the finish. That could have turned out differently.”

One thing of note that did disappoint Vanthourenhout slightly though, was the perceived lack of support the Belgians received in the chase of the runaway Slovenian. “Pogacar’s team wasn’t super strong. We thought he would quickly be left alone. We didn’t get much support from the other countries and had to watch out for too many riders crossing the finish line," he assesses.

"Everyone of us did what they had to do, but that meant we quickly found ourselves alone. I also don’t think Remco had the super legs he was hoping for. It’s a double whammy," the outgoing Belgian national coach concludes. "We still had confidence that things would turn out well, but Tadej Pogacar is of course a great champion.”