Ahead of the 2022 UCI Road World Championships, Cyclingnews is taking a deep dive into the key teams for the elite road races. Here, we put Belgium under the microscope.
History
Belgium is the most successful nation in men’s road race history at the UCI Road World Championships. They’ve amassed 26 rainbow jerseys, while on the women’s side they are the fourth-most successful nation with six wins.
However, the past two decades have been relatively barren for the Belgian teams, with only two gold medals and a total of five since the turn of the Millennium. Long gone are the dominant years of Rik Van Steenbergen, Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx, and Freddy Maertens.
On the women’s side, meanwhile, the cupboard is barer still. They haven’t collected a medal since 1982 and there hasn’t been a rainbow jersey since Nicole Van den Broeck’s triumphant ride in Barcelona nine years before that. Two-thirds of their rainbow jerseys came via Nicole Reynders between 1959 and 1966.
The Belgian men’s last three medals have been spread out across 16 years, which is some achievement given the depth of talent the country has turned out in that time. Philippe Gilbert’s win in Valkenburg a decade ago counts as their most recent victory.
Line-up
Men elite
- Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)
- Stan Dewulf (AG2R Citroën)
- Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl)
- Quinten Hermans (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert)
- Yves Lampaert (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl)
- Pieter Serry (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl)
- Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo)
- Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma)
Women elite
- Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx)
- Valerie Demey (Liv Racing Xstra)
- Julie De Wilde (Plantur-Pura)
- Justine Ghekiere (Plantur-Pura)
- Jesse Vandenbulcke (Le Col-Wahoo)
- Julie Van de Velde (Plantur-Pura)
Key riders
Men
Few other nations in the peloton can boast a squad of left-behind riders which could feasibly compete as a standalone team in Wollongong, but Belgium have seen fit to leave a plethora of notable names back home.
Classics men Greg Van Avermaet, Dylan Teuns, Tim Wellens, Oliver Naesen and Victor Campenaerts join climbers Mauri Vansevenant and Ilan Van Wilder – plus sprinters Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen and Arnaud De Lie – in all missing the cut for the final eight-man selection.
Heading up that group in Australia, though, is one of the top favourites for the rainbow jersey in Wout van Aert. The 28-year-old has once again been one of the…
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