Dutch analyst Zonneveld criticizes Evenepoel and Soudal: “If that was the plan, it was just naive and stupid"

"Puck is a really great winner," Zonneveld begins. "When you saw the results she achieved this spring – after a busy cyclo-cross winter – you can't help but admire her. She finished in the top ten in every race and was there for every big event. The fact that she now gets to win on the Wall of Huy is well deserved, and I think everyone is happy for her."

"The Wall of Huy is always a very honest race" the Dutch analyst continues. "It's always a tough battle, and the best always wins. It's also important to be well-positioned because making up ground on those steep slopes is impossible. Puck excelled at that all day long. She was right up at the front and fresh for the final climb. In races where tactics play less of a role, Puck is simply the best of them all."

According to Zonneveld, Pieterse has all the qualities to be one of the best riders in the world. "She is a world champion in mountain biking and one of the best in cyclo-cross. She is well-equipped to become one of the best riders in the world. She was already very strong in last year's Tour de France. If you can already beat the best riders in the world, fair and square, you will win so much more."

The Dutch men's performance was hugely disappointing. "Milan Vader was the first Dutchman in 52nd place, which is not good enough. Apart from Van der Poel and a few other Dutchmen who occasionally show their talent in some races, the performance in the other races is just dramatic."

And when we talk about the men's race, Zonneveld notices something else he doesn't understand. "Evenepoel said he didn't want to go with Pogacar and Nys on the final climb of the Wall of Huy. What does he do? He lets his team ride at the front all day to enter the final kilometers with UAE. What did he expect?"

"I had such high expectations, but in the end, we got nothing," Zonneveld continues. "If you think you can really hurt Pogacar, you're being very naive. They've probably hurt plenty of other riders, but you've known for years that if you want to hurt Pogacar, you can't ride fast for the entire race – that's just perfect for him. It's nice that Evenepoel has a lot of confidence, but the plan made no sense. It's just stupid."

But according to the Dutchman, the Slovenian world champion was outstanding. "He was so good. He gained almost fourteen seconds in one minute. That's more than twenty percent faster than the next rider. The differences were enormous, while Pogacar was riding, sitting down and accelerating hard. It's not something he does often, but then you can see how talented he is."