Belgians name big advantage of Chile trip with Pidcock: 'Not comparable to Europe'

For those who missed the initial news: Pidcock and six teammates flew to Chile for a training camp. Along with the Brit and the three Belgians were Thomas Gloag, Fred Wright, and Fabio Christen. The Pinarello-Q36.5 group is based in El Colorado, a ski village at around 2,800 meters above sea level.

“Even at 2,700 meters, it’s already warmer than twenty degrees when you wake up around eight,” Meurisse explained. “Down in the valley at 700 meters above sea level, where we do our intervals, it’s 36 degrees or more. When you’re sheltered from the wind on the bike it feels like an oven. You sweat buckets.”

That heat might sound intense, but Hermans sees it as an outright benefit. “Every pro rider nowadays does heat training as a stimulus to challenge the body in extreme conditions. Some ride indoors with warm clothes or sit in a sauna — here you do those heat sessions just outside on the bike in shorts and short sleeves.”

However, the real draw for the team is the altitude itself. Hermans noted a difference from European altitude camps like Teide in Spain: “Sleep quality is a little worse than what we’re used to during altitude camps in Europe.” Meurisse added: “I feel like I need more sleep than in Belgium. When I walk from our apartment to the garage to get my bike, my heart rate already jumps to about 110 beats per minute. For a top athlete that’s unusually high. Our bodies are really working hard.”

Of course, the scenery helps too. “The landscape is nothing like what you see in the mountains in Europe,” Meurisse said. “When we finish training in the valley and then have to ride another hour and a half back up toward El Colorado, you see wild horses running on the mountain slopes and condors gliding through the air.”

And despite how isolated it might seem, Van Moer insists Chile is a truly cycling-crazy country. “You could even call it bike-mad. When we rode up from Santiago on Saturday, every hundred meters we were stopped by club cyclists wanting a photo with us — especially with Tom Pidcock.”

“There were even more people on bikes than on a busy day at Coll de Rates in Spain,” Meurisse added. “The road surface sometimes has cracks and potholes, but you see that in the Ardennes too.” Van Moer did have one complaint: “If I have to complain about one thing, it’s that after every training we still have to ride another hour and a half uphill toward our apartment on a pretty tough climb.”

For now, though, the team is enjoying it while it lasts. Their return to Belgium is scheduled for February 5. Hermans joked, “At the end of this altitude camp there’s even a seven-hour training ride planned, but maybe that’s so we’ll fall asleep quickly on the long flight home.”