Dylan van Baarle’s Opening Weekend — and his words — teach us a lot

Van Baarle has popped up regularly in recent weeks — and almost always for positive reasons. First there was the in-depth story about his work with new coach Michel Geerinck, who explained how he wants to guide Van Baarle back towards the very top. And Van Baarle’s first races for his new team, Soudal Quick-Step, looked encouraging, including signs that he’s climbing well again.

At Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, though, we barely saw Van Baarle near the front — but he insisted it wasn’t about form. “I was messing around with the weather a bit. Rain jacket on, rain jacket off… and in the end I could never really get warm again. It was a frustrating day,” he said after sleeping on it ahead of Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne.

In Sunday’s classic, Van Baarle did attack — several times, in fact. On a couple of occasions he looked strong as he rode clear, but against a peloton full of sprint teams it was always going to be difficult to stay away. Still, it will have been a useful stimulus, especially with the knowledge that we won’t see Van Baarle racing for a few weeks now.

Next up is an altitude camp, together with his fiancée Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, before his return at the end of March for the E3 Saxo Classic — when the real business begins. No Paris–Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico, with the daily stress, risks and potential setbacks that come with those stage races.

“That’s definitely part of the reason,” Van Baarle explained. “In those races you also have to recharge mentally every single day, while you still have big objectives afterwards. I found that harder in recent years, and I hope this way it will work.”

At The Wolfpack, Van Baarle says he has found a new calm. “It gives me freedom in my head, that I can do what I like to do. That helps me in the races as well. I feel a lot calmer — also because of the freedom I get outside of cycling,” he said. “The positive I can take from it is that I also feel relaxed away from competition. I know I can do my thing.”

Altitude camp. No racing in March. A build-up aimed at peak form for the races where he wants to shine. Van Baarle has already won Paris–Roubaix and Dwars door Vlaanderen, and he is also targeting E3 and the Tour of Flanders.

“I definitely feel like it can come,” he said. “In Omloop it actually felt good as well.”

Saturday’s rain and cold were the real opponent, but Van Baarle felt in the Algarve that he’s getting there. Coach Geerinck even went as far as saying he is “200 percent convinced” that a top Van Baarle can match the very best. Van Baarle himself was a bit more cautious.

“Maybe it’s a bit too early to say that I’ll be able to follow Mathieu and Tadej later on,” he said, “but I can get deep into finales again. That’s the goal this year — to reach that level again.”

Bram van der Ploeg (X: @BvdPloegg | e-mail: [email protected])