A healthy Van Baarle would have definitely raced the Opening Weekend, but after two years of setbacks, he deliberately chose to skip it.

Dylan van Baarle is back! The Dutch rider of Visma | Lease a Bike broke his collarbone in the Tour Down Under in January and was sidelined for six weeks. After using a roller and doing a training period, he ended up in France on Sunday for the Faun Drome Classic, where teammate Ben Tulett finished third. In the In Koers podcast, Van Baarle reflected on his rehabilitation before his comeback.

Van Baarle, who has monthly chats with good friend Astana rider Wout Poels and AD journalist Marijn Abbenhuijs, had difficulty realizing he was out again. The list of injuries in 2023 and 2024 had become quite long for the now 32-year-old rider. The misery began in 2023 at Paris-Roubaix with a broken hand and shoulder blade. In 2024, he broke his collarbone in the Dauphiné (which caused him to miss the Tour de France), and he broke his hip on day two of the Vuelta.

With that in mind, 2025 was approached with optimism. Van Baarle went to South Africa with his girlfriend Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and then opted for an Australian campaign. However, that ended on day one of the Tour Down Under, again due to a broken collarbone. "I'm annoyed that I haven't been able to put my disastrous year behind me and that I've unfortunately started the year with a lot of bad luck," he said in the previous edition of In Koers.

Read more below the photo.

Van Baarle (right) on the ground at the Tour Down Under

Van Baarle deliberately skipped Opening Weekend

After his injury, missing out on the Tour de France selection of Visma | Lease a Bike was another setback, so we might say that Van Baarle has had his fair share of bad luck and setbacks. "Things are going well now. The training sessions are progressing as they should, so I'm pleased. My collarbone has stopped bothering me and sprinting, and things like that are also going well. I, therefore, spoke to the team, and we decided that I could (now can, ed.) race in the Ardeche again."

Why did Van Baarle choose the Faun Drome Classic and not a (perhaps smaller) role in the Opening Weekend? "That is mainly due to my crashes. I want to get the feeling back in the peloton and have a good race. When you stand in 't Kuipke in Ghent, you know it won't be like that; you have to go at those cobblestone sections and climb with a knife between your teeth. I feel like it's better to start somewhere relaxed than immediately at full throttle."

Read more below the photo.

Van Baarle was on the rollers earlier showing (right) his blue collarbone.

Van Baarle thinks Visma | Lease a Bike should start anywhere with winning in mind

Riding along in a Belgian cobblestone classic in a Visma | Lease a Bike shirt will not happen in 2025. "I think it's only natural that we have the ambition to win all those races. If I had gone to the Opening Weekend, I wouldn't have known how I would have ridden there. It could have gone well, which would have made you go home with a good feeling. But you can also get in your way for two days because you don't feel comfortable in the peloton. Then you go to the next races with a shitty feeling."

In France, Visma | Lease a Bike did not line up at the start on Sunday to win, and they did not win. Tulett did finish third, but winner Juan Ayuso (UAE) and runner-up Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) were clearly out of his league. "During an Opening Weekend, everyone is at the start with one hundred percent motivation. France has no cobblestones, and being at the front is a little less chaotic. There is less pressure, and it is close to home so I go there by car."

Read also

"Not a blame game, but the start of misery" – Visma | Lease a Bike seeks answers after Omloop

"I won't race for any other team than Visma | Lease a Bike for the rest of my career"—It’s a huge compliment to the team

Pogacar's racing style is heavily criticized, meanwhile he fuels Roubaix rumors: "Big chance in the near future"

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get every week the latest news about CYCLING in your inbox!

Subscribe