"Those Belgians were acting a little annoying," says Hoole, Van der Poel's domestique: "You ride along otherwise we don't"

On Saturday, Belgium rode possibly the perfect race at the Olympics which included some exploratory and tactical racing. The Dutchman could live with the fact that Wout van Aert rode on Mathieu van der Poel's wheel. However, the fact that Belgium refused to ride at the head of the pack for a long time during the race's opening hours was not to Daan Hoole's liking.

Hoole was chosen to control the leading group on behalf of the Netherlands. "We wanted that too, just like Denmark," he pointed out to NOS after the race to Mikkel Bjerg, who quickly completed his turns leading the pack. "Those Belgians were just acting a little annoying. If you get first and third in the time trial, it seems logical that you must also ride in the lead. At one point, we just stopped and said: you ride along, or otherwise, we won't do it."

For the Belgians, Tiesj Benoot was played out as the one who needed to perform. That could have put them in someone's slipstream for quite some time. "They said they hadn't brought anyone to ride in the lead," laughed Hoole, who added cynically, "Typically Belgian, but yeah.... Ultimately, they rode along and won, so they had the perfect plan."

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Bjerg and Hoole in the lead, with no Belgians

Moerenhout calls Games "an odd race"

"An odd race, although it was controlled as we expected," analyzes national coach Koos Moerenhout afterward, also talking to NOS. "It took a long time for the actual control to take effect, and we contributed well. Once on the final track, it was such a chaotic roller coaster to follow, even from the car. Mathieu attacked well several times, but they returned, and Evenepoel took off. Compliments to the Belgians; they performed well."

Moerenhout says he is "one hundred percent" behind the Netherlands taking a dedicated domestique with Hoole. "We took Daan from the front until the Belgians started riding as well. You need someone who can close gaps and straighten things out. Daan did that just fine."