Winning for himself and supporting Evenepoel: Top talent Lecerf learns valuable lessons in strong debut year

Belgian cycling is enjoying a golden era for climbers, with one young talent after another making their mark in the pro peloton. Among them is 22-year-old William Junior Lecerf, who reflected on his first year as a pro in an interview on the Soudal-Quick Step website.

Lecerf started the season with a bang, securing second place in the toughest stage of the AlUla Tour in Saudi Arabia. This performance also earned him second place in the overall classification, with only the seasoned Simon Yates finishing ahead of him. "In my opinion it was my best race until now," Lecerf said with satisfaction. "I trained hard the whole winter to be in shape for the first race, and I really wanted to prove something. I surprised myself because I hoped to do top 10 or something like that, but to be able to almost win the whole thing was quite a good performance," he added humbly.

The young climber left a strong impression during that stage, which featured a steep climb with a five percent gradient. Tough climbs suit Lecerf, who is built for them. "But that was really to my advantage because I’m one of the lightest riders in the peloton. I perform well on the steeper climbs, but I don’t really know yet what my favorites are. In the Vuelta I also did some good performances on more long climbs, so I still really don’t know what I’m the best at, but I think I need to discover this with the trainers of the team and the staff, and we will see in the next two years, I think."

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Lecerf in action at the Vuelta a España

Despite the recent surge in Belgian climbing talent, Lecerf pointed out that it's not exactly common. "Normally you don’t expect my type of rider from northern Belgium but from last year and the year before I have stayed a lot in Spain to train the hills." Lecerf believes that training in the mountains is key for improvement. "If you have to stay in Belgium it’s not ideal for my type of rider, so I’m working on it and I try to take another step forward and stay in Tenerife and train a lot of altitude meters. I think it’s necessary if you want to be a good climber. If you just stay in Belgium and train on the flat then of course you can ride and do good results, but if I really want to get the most out of myself, I think I have to train here and do a lot of climbing meters."

After his success in Saudi Arabia, Lecerf kept the momentum going with a fourth place in the Tour of Rwanda. His impressive results caught the attention of his team’s management, who rewarded him with an ambitious spring schedule: the Tour of Catalonia, the Tour of the Basque Country, the Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Not bad for a first-year pro!

Lecerf says he gained valuable experience, particularly in the Tour of Catalonia. The WorldTour stage race was dominated by Tadej Pogacar, who claimed four stages and the overall victory. "It was nice that for the first time I helped the team to reach a goal and we finished second with Mikel (Landa, ed.), behind Pogacar, which almost felt like a victory for us! I was able to help Mikel in the last stages, on the uphill parts, so he was happy with me and that was also important. I enjoyed helping the other riders of the team because for me it was one of the best team performances that I was involved in this year."

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Lecerf held his own during his grand tour debut

Lecerf continues to pursue his own ambitions, in addition to helping Evenepoel

In the fall, Lecerf faced a major test in the Vuelta a España, his first grand tour — a milestone for any professional cyclist. The grueling three-week race through Spain taught Lecerf valuable lessons. "Of course, at the start I was doubting how it would be and how it would turn out because I never rode a grand tour before. I’m still young so we don’t know how the body reacts, but I was really surprised that it went so well – better than even I expected. I only had two or three days where I had bad legs and suffered a little bit, but I think it’s normal."

Being able to handle a grand tour so well is one of the biggest lessons Lecerf took from his debut season. "I think it’s important for the future because I still felt quite good in the second and third week. It is important that my body is not tired and empty after one week. It was important that I got some results already because I also want to continue to go for the win in the races where I think it’s possible and then build from there. And in the bigger races, to help the team with Remco to win as much as possible," Lecerf shared, outlining his ambitions for the upcoming seasons.

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