Team Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal relies on Iserbyt and Vanthourenhout: "Ronhaar and Van Empel left a void"

For years, Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal has been led by the duo Eli Iserbyt and Michael Vanthourenhout. And now, this reliance is becoming more apparent. The two are having a lackluster season so far, and there is no one behind them to compensate for this weaker period. Staff member Jurgen Mettepenningen acknowledges the situation and continues to place his bets on Iserbyt and Vanthourenhout. "Don’t get me wrong: Eli’s condition is good. Whether he is as strong as last season, we will see in the coming weeks. But if things start to go his way, I expect a few wins from him," he told Belgian outlet Het Nieuwsblad.

The incident involving Ryan Kamp is weeks in the past, yet Mettepenningen believes that, on the surface, it still affects Iserbyt. However, the team leader could not ignore the reality: without the many victories from last year, the squad, which has only two pros, suddenly feels thin. But this strategy is deliberate: "They are two pros who are consistently at the front. You could have five pros with only one fighting for the win and four others finishing at the back of the top ten."

"We chose to have two pros whom we reward well, but we also expect them to be at the front — and they are." The current lack of wins does not cause panic within the team. The team manager also notes that younger riders are performing well in cyclo-cross races. "They show up stronger than ever in the finals. This makes it increasingly difficult for the established names to compete for the podium."

Is there a focus on youth within the team? In the past, riders like Pim Ronhaar and Fem van Empel raced for the team, but according to Mettepenningen, they were hard to retain. "Ronhaar and Van Empel came up through our youth program. But they left the team and chose a different path. We have brought through many talents before them as well. I’m thinking of Gianni Vermeersch, Tim Merlier, Florian Vermeersch. So we certainly do have youth development, but because Ronhaar and Van Empel chose different routes, we were left with a certain void," Mettepenningen said about the team's focus on youth.