Verbrugghe: “I saw a strange strategy from Belgium”
The former coach of the Belgian national team (2019-2020), Rik verbrugghe, returned to the performance of his compatriots during the 2021 worlds road race won by Julien Alaphillipe. Belgium, which hosted the event for the first time in more than twenty years, dreamed of a coronation at home. She finally assisted helplessly at the Frenchman’s second title, settling for fourth place in Jasper stuyven. Today sports director at Start-up nation of Israel, Rik verbrugghe confided in the succession of errors made before and during the race by his compatriots.
Video – 2021 Worlds – Wout Van Aert’s reaction after the finish
“I think I saw the errors from the start of the race”
Worlds at home, a rider announced as the favorite (Wout Van Aert), a full team (Remco Evenepoel, Jasper Stuyven) on a course that seemed to suit him, what could prevent this team from triumphing in Leuven? Maybe overconfidence to begin with. “Probably a few weeks before the world championships we already thought we would be world champions, like we were world champions before the race. I think this is the first mistake “, an explanation Verbrugghe to our colleagues from Velonews.
“It’s a mixture of things”
Then, the strategy put in place surprised her, with a Remco Evenepoel very active from the start of the race but which lacked freshness in the last hours to accompany its leader. “Once the race started I saw a strange strategy from the team“. Pierre Sagan had known how to triumph without a great team around him (2015, 2016, 2017), but when your unique leader does not have the legs, you have to be able to count on other cards. “We probably had the best rider in the world for this kind of route […] What didn’t go well? Maybe Wout didn’t have a great day at the worlds. It’s a mix of things: the pressure, the stress, maybe the strategy wasn’t the right one, and this set of things meant he wouldn’t be world champion in Belgium. […] Then you should have a plan B, and that was not the right one “, an adding Verbrugghe.
“It’s a shame, because it was the first world in Belgium for 20 years“, he concluded, ending on a positive note in front of the spectacle which he attended.”But it was a great race. Once again, we have shown that Belgium is the country of cycling, and it was good to see, especially after all the things with COVID.. “