Following Laurance, Philipsen, Van der Poel, and Kielich, now Quinten Hermans too: "Alpecin-Deceuninck believed in me"

Truly everyone at Alpecin-Deceuninck is starting to win these weeks! Following the likes of Axel Laurance, Jasper Philipsen, and Mathieu van der Poel, on Wednesday we added Quinten Hermans to the list. The Belgian was the best in a sharp punch-sprint in the Tour of the Basque Country, which brought a lot of joy.

That Alpecin-Deceuninck was up to something had already been clear. After all the early breakaways were caught, we saw the Belgian team take the lead of the peloton. That turned out to be for Hermans. "They did an incredible job, it was surreal to finish it off like that. The team really believed I could do it, and I want to thank them for that. They put me in a perfect position."

"It was an ideal sprint, slightly uphill," says Hermans, who last won at the Baloise Belgium Tour of 2022. "It was hectic, but Stan (Van Tricht, ed.) put me in a perfect position at 600 meters, and there I had Aranburu's wheel. That was the right wheel to have, and with stronger legs, I was able to win in the end."

Hermans wins for first time since 2022

The whole team's belief in Hermans is something he also emphasized in an interview with Eurosport. "Yesterday, a few things went wrong, but we analyzed those and then made a new plan. We executed it perfectly. I completely trusted the team, so it's nice to repay that trust."