Thomas De Gendt's Vuelta escapade: "See 10 chances, Van Aert can also be a help"

Nine times the Tour, six times the Giro, and, starting Saturday, 10 times the Vuelta. "It's special to ride my last grand Tour. I've raced many, but I wanted to ride this Vuelta one more time," De Gendt told me two days before the start of the Vuelta. "Throughout my career, grand tours have been unique; they were always central to my season. I look forward to my last one but am also sad about it."

"Since the beginning of the season, it has been my goal to win a stage in the Vuelta so that I can complete the double-triple," he explains. He means two stage wins in the Giro, Tour, and Vuelta with the double-triple.

Sports director Kurt Van de Wouwer said he was impressed to see a motivated De Gendt. "Thomas is very ambitious for his last big Tour. He wants to end his wonderful career on a high note, so we expect a lot from him. He has prepared himself on and off, with even help from our dieticians, which is quite unusual for him."

That is promising, but De Gendt says we shouldn't get too worked up about it. "I haven't changed that much. I did altitude training and worked more with the team's nutrition specialists. I'm getting older, and putting on weight for a big tour is not easy, so I need some help," he explained. "Night and day difference from the beginning of my career; it's not the same sport. We're on bikes, but the training and coaching method greatly differs in 13 years."

"So I went all-in with that, just to be able to start this race without any regrets. If I will ride sh*t for three weeks, then so be it. I've gone all in. Hopefully, I'll have the best three weeks of my life, but I'm under no illusions either, and I know it's going to be a very tough race," it sounds as realistic as ever from De Gendt's mouth.

On paper, this Vuelta is mouthwatering for guys like De Gendt. "There are a lot of chances for the breakaway specialists. It's not like the Tour, with Pogacar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel, and those guys. The classification riders in the Vuelta have a less aggressive racing style, and I think it will be a traditional Vuelta, with about ten chances for the breakaway specialists. So I'm not going to pick one day, but more trying to be with them where I can and work from there," he explained.

There are many like that. For example, Wout van Aert also wants to throw himself into the transition stages. For De Gendt, that doesn't have to be a disadvantage. Indeed, "At my last stage win in a big tour, Mathieu van der Poel (Napoli 2022, Giro d'Italia, ed.) was in the breakaway, which made it easier for us. Everyone was angling for his wheel, and Girmay was also in it, so they forgot about us. We were off by four, and everyone looked to Van der Poel to close the gap."

"That will be the same scenario now with Van Aert," De Gendt expected. "The Tour went the same way; Campenaerts could win partly thanks to Van Aert. Everyone then looked a bit to Van Aert to close the gap, who didn't do so directly. It can be a help to have such a rider along, but you have to be able to beat him. It remains Van Aert, and that is not easy to beat," the Lotto-Dstny rider is the first to express his respect for Van Aert.

So, how should De Gendt get the job done? "I have some plans in my head, but it depends on the scenario. Being the first to attack is often important in big breakaways because you have the upper hand. If you wait for others, you can get stuck between team orders. So I have a plan: I won't wait for others if I am in the break and have good legs. Then I will attack," he explained his tried and true recipe.

But, De Gendt concludes, "It's the legs of the day that decide. I'll see when I have good legs, but winning a stage will be difficult anyway."