De Gendt has a mission: after winning a stage in Giro and Tour he also wants to triumph in the third Grand Tour on the calendar! His preparation on La Vuelta ran very smoothly.
Thomas De Gendt: “La Vuelta will be my first official race since the Tour. In the meantime I rode five criteriums and I trained ten days in Calpe. Afterwards I was home four days before we came to Nîmes. Although it was actually a bit too hot in Spain, I still managed to train well. It was good to go abroad because I was more focused than I would have been in Belgium. I found the right rhythm to prepare for my next Grand Tour quite soon. It’s the fourth time I do the double Tour and Vuelta. I could rely on my own experience, but I also asked Adam Hansen for some tips. After the Tour your condition is on a high, but you also need to take sufficient rest into account to get rid of the tiredness. It is necessary to maintain the condition, but also to become fresh again. The first week I didn’t train much. In the criteriums I did get a high power output a few times which was good for the body. In Calpe I did training rides of three to five hours. I had an excellent preparation: I didn’t get ill and I had enough recovery.”
“It is my ultimate goal to win a Vuelta stage, as I already won a stage in Giro and Tour. That is something I really want to achieve in my career. I read that at the moment 99 riders were able to win at least one stage in all three Grand Tours. It would be nice to be the hundredth rider in history, but that is not necessary. I’ll be happy if I win the stage, no matter when.”
“I need to be in a breakaway to be able to win a stage, so you can expect an aggressive race from me. There are several stages in which an escapee could take the victory. Although a lot will depend on the tactics of the GC riders like Aru, Bardet, Contador, Froome and Nibali. Will they grant breakaways the necessary advantage or will they firmly control the gap as they did in the Tour?”
Jens Debusschere hopes to be successful in one of the few sprint stages at La Vuelta. He is very confident.
Jens Debusschere: “June was a difficult month for me because I suffered from a back injury, but that has completely healed. The first fourteen days of July I went to Livigno on a team training camp. Afterwards I was home for one week and then I went to Tour de Pologne. The main part of our Vuelta team rode Tour de Pologne. It’s unfortunate that Rafael Valls can’t ride his home race as he crashed on training. The first two days in Poland I didn’t feel well, but that was not unexpected after the altitude training camp. From the third day I got better. I had a good feeling about my condition, but it annoyed me that I couldn’t show myself in the sprints, but not more than that. I left the Tour de Pologne early for the European Championships. Unfortunately I had three punctures in the race, but I could still pull the sprint for Edward Theuns, so I can say the European Championships were a success. Now I hope to benefit from my preparation at La Vuelta.”
“This will be my third participation in La Vuelta, after 2012 and 2014. I am here to try to grab the chances in the sprint, like Gianni Meersman and Jonas Van Genechten did last year. I can compare myself to that type of riders. The sprinters will get four to six chances. Cort Nielsen, Degenkolb and Modolo are some of my opponents and I expect to be able to battle against them. The riders in our team have a free role, but I get the necessary support. In Poland Tomasz Marczynski and Jelle Wallays proved to be the right men to have by my side in the finale. Jelle can take Tomasz and me to the front. Tomasz has excellent steering skills and has no fear, he can get me in the right wheel. The other teammates will do their job if they need to.”
