Lorena Wiebes starts the new cycling season on Thursday in the UAE Tour. She tries to look ahead with good courage, but the pain of the bizarre European Championships still runs deep. “Confidence must be restored.”
At the start of the new season, eyes are focused on Wiebes as usual. The 24-year-old sprint gun, together with Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky, is still one of the leaders of Team SD Worx-Protime. Although she does not start the season like last year in the European champion’s jersey that she so loved.
It was precisely in that jersey that teammate Mischa Bredewold walked awkwardly through the corridors of the Protime head office in Mechelen, Belgium, at the end of January. It was her first public appearance for the 23-year-old rider of Team SD Worx-Protime since her surprising European title.
Despite that title, attention for Bredewold during the team presentation was limited to a group of journalists, who asked her some questions in an improvised setting in a dark corner of the building. At the same time, an office was reserved for the number two of the European Championship – Wiebes – to speak extensively to the arriving press.
In that room, Wiebes went back to Saturday, September 23. A day when almost all eyes of the Dutch team were on her, but ‘bodyguard’ Bredewold made a late attack in Drenthe. Bredewold accidentally took the European title on the VAM mountain, while Wiebes sprinted three seconds behind to her thirteenth second place of the season. Four months later, Wiebes’ pain is still deep.
Lorena Wiebes (left) next to Mischa Bredewold on the podium of the European Championships. Photo: ANP
European Championship title felt like a knife in the back
Did it feel like a knife in the back for Wiebes? “Yes, a little bit. I had been giving a lot all season. Maybe this was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Wiebes had ‘sacrificed’ earlier in the season and had to take the second step behind teammates Vollering or Kopecky several times.
Wiebes had a disappointing season until the European Championship anyway. In the Tour de France she sprinted to victory in the third stage, but had to abandon the race prematurely due to illness. Wiebes hoped for a good ranking at the World Championships in Glasgow more than two weeks later, but had to leave again due to illness.
“Because those competitions were a failure, the European Championship was really the big goal for me. I wanted to win that title and I trained very hard for that for a few more weeks. If that fails for such a reason and you will ultimately be second in that sprint, then that hurts.”
Still, Wiebes tries to look ahead. “Mischa did not mean it that way. We normally go through a door together. We really don’t fight each other out, but trust has to be restored. That has to be built up again in the matches. We will see that next season.”
Bredewold: ‘Never had any intention of driving for myself’
Shortly after the European Championships, Mischa Bredewold did not realize that Lorena Wiebes found her second place at the European Championships so difficult. “That has slowly sunk in,” says the rider on the day of the team presentation. “I never had the intention of riding for myself and I didn’t attack to win. That never crossed my mind for a second. It taught me a lot about how to communicate things differently.”
Wiebes during the press presentation in Mechelen. Photo: Getty Images
Wiebes does not think about another team
Those many second places behind a teammate raise the question whether Wiebes would not be better off choosing another team. For example, Fabio Jakobsen in the men’s peloton opted to switch to DSM company PostNL, because he had to deal with the classification ambitions of Remco Evenepoel at Soudal Quick-Step.
Wiebes came over from Team DSM last year. In her last season with that formation, she was the most successful rider in the peloton with 23 victories. In her debut season for SD Worx she won twelve times. That is a good number, but still almost halved from a year earlier. Wiebes puts those statistics into perspective.
“I would rather win less, but be happy. I can develop further here, also in addition to the sprint. You have a lot of freedom with this team and there are few obligations besides the race. And they really believe here that I can do better.” can be achieved with heavier finishes. That gives confidence.”
Exploration of the Olympic course during the market in Paris
Her main goals lie elsewhere this summer, with the Olympic Games in Paris and the Tour de France starting in the Netherlands. Wiebes has already had a taste of the Olympic course with an exploration. Although things will be very different on Sunday, August 4. The riders did not yet have the luxury of closed roads and even had to slalom uphill.
“There was a market on the first day of the exploration,” says Wiebes, laughing. “We always had to avoid the walkers. We only reached an average speed of 18 kilometers per hour. A few days later we drove a little faster and then you get a different feeling.”
Eight days after the finish within sight of the Eiffel Tower, Wiebes is in Rotterdam at the start of the Tour. A special edition, with no fewer than four stages through the Netherlands. The first two stages in particular are tailor-made for Wiebes, who is clear about the goal. “I want to leave the Netherlands in yellow.”
First, Wiebes hopes to get her season off to a flying start, just like last year in the UAE Tour. And there is also an advantage to missing out on the champion’s jersey at the European Championships, she says laughing. “I can’t easily be picked out of the peloton now. That makes a difference. And it would be nice to give the jersey back at the next European Championship. It is still sensitive, but it gives me extra motivation to shine next season. “
Stage schedule of the UAE Tour
Lorena Wiebes starts her season in the UAE Tour. The four-day race starts on Thursday in Dubai and finishes on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.
- Etappe 1: Dubai Miracle Garden-Dubai Harbour (122 kilometer)
- Stage 2: Al Mirfa-Madinat Zayed (113 kilometers)
- Etappe 3: Al Ain-Jebel Hafeet (128 kilometer)
- Etappe 4: Abu Dhabi-Abu Dhabi (105 kilometers)
2024-02-08 04:03:20
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