04/03/2023

"Wout and Van Baarle will start on an equal footing and with the same ambition"- Tom Boonen previews internal rivalry at Jumbo-Visma

Dylan Van Baarle, one of the Team Jumbo-Visma fresh faces for this season, has made his debut with the team in a perfect way, scoring a solo victory in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. This raised some questions about what will be his role when Wout Van Aert is present, cycling legend Tom Boonen has no doubts about what will be his paper.

"Van Baarle will start in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix with the idea of winning by himself, Dylan is a rider who often creates the right conditions for himself. That will be no different at Jumbo-Visma, Dylan is an excellent leader to put next to Wout, but he is indeed a leader. He is not a helper", said Boonen to Sporza.

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So this will mean that Wout Van Aert and Dylan Van Baarle will start Tour des Flanders and Paris-Roubaix with the same status on the team? Tom Boonen believes that Baarle can play a big factor in Jumbo-Visma tactics.

"I think Wout and Van Baarle will start on an equal footing and with the same ambition, because of Van Baarle's arrival, Jumbo-Visma has a disruptive factor against those other teams. You can also see that Van Baarle is acting better in the current situation than when he was riding at Ineos", he said.

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Wout Van Aert has previously stated that Tour des Flandres and Paris-Roubaix are his biggest goals in the classics season and that he wants to achieve nothing more than victory. And we have seen that sometimes it isn't the main leader that wins and free riders like Van Baarle can play a big role, so will Van Baarle be a menace to Van Aert's objectives?

"You have to learn to race with different leaders. It's not always easy to have that always turn in your favour. Van Aert and Van Baarle are pretty similar types in terms of endurance. In the sprint, Wout is of course faster. But that just opens a lot of doors for Dylan, who in the very worst case, can no longer win himself, he will help Wout win.", Boonen concluded.