The World Championships may be in a novel format and a new position on the calendar, but an eternal question endures for the Belgian team ahead of Sunday’s elite men’s road race – who’s the boss? Coach Sven Vanthourenhout has a wealth of options at his disposal, but that only makes the balancing act all the harder.
Defending champion Remco Evenepoel has made no secret of his desire to retain his title. Wout van Aert gave up his shot at the green jersey at the Tour de France with an eye to claiming the rainbow jersey here. Jasper Philipsen, fresh from four stage wins in July, arrives in Scotland with ambitions of his own.
Tom Boonen, world champion in Madrid in 2005 and Belgium’s de facto sprint option for most of his career, maintains that Vanthourenhout’s decision to bring two fast finishers to Scotland has created unnecessary complications. The national coach’s job, Boonen told Sporza’s Wielerclub Wattage show this week, is to make hard choices rather than simply to reward riders for their performances.
“No decisions have been made. I would never have taken Jasper and Wout together to a World Championships. Never,” Boonen said. “The task of a national coach is to eliminate conflicts before the race. And take it from me: there will be those conflicts.”
The nature of the Glasgow course and Philipsen’s dominance in the sprints at the Tour meant that he was surely impossible to overlook, even allowing for the ill-judged admission that he would struggle to race against Dutch leader and Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel. Van Aert, of course, remains Van Aert, arguably the most versatile rider on the planet. This Worlds course, just like those in Imola, Leuven and Wollongong, looks ideally tailored to his gifts.
“They both deserve it fully, but that’s not the point. Is it tactically difficult now? Absolutely,” said Boonen. “You can’t go to the Worlds with two men to do the sprint.”
The man who guided Boonen to that victory in Madrid 18 years ago, mind, has a different view on the inclusion of Philipsen. José De Cauwer said it would have been “nonsense” not to bring Philipsen to Scotland, and he suggested the presence of the Alpecin-Deceuninck man might ultimately help Van Aert rather than hinder him.
“In my opinion, the presence of Remco and Jasper does not have to mean a disadvantage for him,” De Cauwer told Sporza. “Look, if the really good riders go – such as a Pedersen or Van der Poel – then…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…