Wout Poels looking to strike at Tour de France again after Giro d'Italia's 'bitter pill' and Tour de Hongrie win

Wout Poels had a strong spring and was expecting to race the Giro d'Italia. He was removed last minute from the lineup, as the team gave Antonio Tiberi sole leadership and looked to have the Dutchman chase stages at the Tour de France. It was a tough pill to swallow for the Dutchman, but after his victory at the Tour de Hongrie he remains positive of his chances.

“It is of course a great pity that I was not allowed to travel to Italy, but sometimes the team makes different choices. You have to accept that, turn the switch and move on," Poels said in the In Koers podcast. "It's just fun to see my teammates, with whom you have been on an altitude training camp, racing." Tiberi particularly, sits fifth at the start of stage 11 despite having a puncture and mechanical at a key point of the summit finish to Monte Oropa.

Read also

PREVIEW | Giro d'Italia 2024 stage 11 - Jonathan Milan and Tim Merlier take on another bunch sprint battle

Poels raced with Tiberi at the Volta a Catalunya and Tour of the Alps at a similar level, “but after Liège-Bastogne-Liège I was told that I had not made the selection," he says, "which was a bitter pill. Hopefully we will now go to the Tour de France. As for the Giro: you can talk about that, but you can also go further and set new goals.”

Instead of resting and going to altitude, to traditional Tour preparation, Poels added another race to his schedule where he stood good chances: The Tour de Hongrie. There, he won the final stage and managed to finish on the podium of the overall classification. “It's always nice to win. I don't win that often. I just always try to enjoy it. I would like to go to the Tour in the summer. I have a good chance of that," he concluded.

Read also

Tadej Pogacar dislikes conservative tactic at Giro d'Italia: "Making such concessions doesn't necessarily make me happy"

Valentin Paret-Peintre beats childhood hero Romain Bardet to Giro win: "I dreamt seeing him on TV and today I battled with him and beat him"