Niels Bastiaens • Thursday December 28, 2023 at 1:00 PM
Interview A satisfied sports director Jan Boven saw his two Jumbo-Visma groups cheering in the Superprestigecross of Heusden-Zolder. However, both Wout van Aert and Fem van Empel did not have the ideal run-up to the Limburg cross. Bee CyclingFlits Above provides text and explanation.
Winning is not new for Jumbo-Visma, but what do those cross victories mean in their story? “A lot. Every victory is nice to take away. It is almost considered normal that they both win here,” coach Boven says full of praise. “It is not the first time that we have won twice in one day in cross-country. Wout and Fem have done that before, I think Wout and Marianne Vos have too. But it is very beautiful.”
Van Empel’s winning streak
Van Empel saw her streak of 11 consecutive victories broken on Tuesday in Gavere. But according to Boven, that was not the biggest problem. “Don’t underestimate her falls. Her knee was hit hard, and she was also quite ill. She was barely able to train for two weeks. As an athlete you will not gain any extra self-confidence there. Gavere was also not a nice course to get into, with all those descents. It was very good that she came second.”
Van Aert completed it again in Zolder – photo: Cor Vos
“But in Zolder it was immediately clear to me that we would see a different Fem. After just one lap, she said: today is really my course. The confidence was immediately restored. After a difficult period, she can show again: I can do this after all. Although of course her winning streak had to be stopped at some point. If it hadn’t happened yesterday, it would have happened some other time.”
Van Aert vs. Van der Poel
For Van Aert, it was one of the few times in Zolder that he did not have to compete against world champion Van der Poel. “His level is just good. But Mathieu is superior,” the team leader takes stock. “We know where we stand, and that the fight with Mathieu is a difficult one. But it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to be a fight. Only, the times they rode together, it was clear that unfortunately it was not a fight.”
Boven continues to believe that the three-time world champion will be able to offer more resistance. “How do we evaluate this now? Not. This was all taken into account. Everything is part of a bigger plan, and we will continue to stick to that. It is not because we came second a few times in the cross country that we now panic and think: oh no, we have to do a number of things differently.”
2023-12-28 12:00:00
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