Resting at home in Flanders following his successful Grand Tour debut, we caught up with reigning Belgian men’s national champion Dries De Bondt of Alpecin-Fenix. Dries reflects on some cold and wet days of the Giro d’Italia before looking ahead to the fast-approaching Belgian national championships.
Last year Dries De Bondt became Belgian champion after an impressive solo. The tricolor national jersey, already visible at the front of the peloton in the Spring Classics at the side of Mathieu van der Poel, was not to be missed in the recent Giro d'Italia. Dries was one of the most active riders in the peloton, often formed part of the breakaway of the day and thus won the classification for fighting spirit and took to the podium in Milan as the winner of the classification for the intermediate sprints.
His first Grand Tour did not go unnoticed, especially because of that beautiful, striking jersey. De Bondt is now at home in Flanders as he looks back at a great time in Italy.
“I'm doing very well. I had a short break for three days after the finish of the Giro but will quickly pick up the bike again. With this beautiful weather, that is absolutely not a bad thing!”
The Giro d'Italia started well for Alpecin-Fenix. On the first stage from Stupinigi to Novara, Tim Merlier won the bunch sprint. De Bondt played an important role in the sprint train but praises the whole team.
“It was such a special day where we really rode as a team. I rarely had such an experience before. If one of the eight hadn't done what they did that day, it wouldn't have worked out the way it did. It was really a team effort. After that we were all liberated and we could race freely, but in that first week we focused on the sprints with Tim mostly,” De Bondt looks back.
Alpecin-Fenix started its first ever Grand Tour with Tim Merlier, Dries De Bondt, Alexander Krieger, Gianni Vermeersch, Louis Vervaeke, Oscar Riesebeek, Senne Leysen and Jimmy Janssens. Except for Vervaeke, they all rode their very first Grand Tour. In addition to Merlier's victory, it resulted in two podium places and six top ten places, two of which were for De Bondt himself.
“The great thing was that we were all equals on the team. After Tim's victory, the main goal was achieved, and we felt liberated. We raced aggressively, especially after Tim had left the Giro and we could go for our own chances in all stages.”
De Bondt had a busy spring season with all the Flemish classics and Paris-Nice. After the Brabantse Pijl he took a rest to prepare for the Giro.
“I hid myself a bit in the first week in the Giro. I was unsure if I was sufficiently rested after the Spring Classics. For me this is the most important lesson that I will take with me after this Grand Tour. Try to save energy on certain days so that you can profit on other days. Because I had to ride economically in that first week to assist Tim in the finals as the penultimate rider in the sprint lead-out, I slowly grew in the race. After that I got better and better.”
Halfway through the Giro, De Bondt started to show himself more and more in the breakaways. Gradually he collected points for the intermediate sprint classification and for the classification of the most aggressive rider.
“I was twice on the final podium in Milan and that was very special. The big teams don't care about these kinds of prizes. However, it was not the intention to go for those intermediate sprints. I didn't even know the rules, but that applies to a large part of the peloton,” he laughs. “So, when I started to delve deeper into the rulebook, I already had an advantage. Because I was getting stronger in weeks two and three, I took those points.”
De Bondt can look back on a beautiful Giro d'Italia. A fourth place in the stage over the famous Tuscan gravel roads, the strade bianche, was his best result.
“I didn't have enough self-confidence that day,” he recalls. “I was scared of that last climb eight kilometres from the finish line, so I tried to anticipate by attacking. Because of this I used a lot of energy. Afterwards I should have trusted my sprint because I was the fastest man in that group.”
De Bondt does have a beautiful photo from his day in the attack to Montalcino. “My girlfriend has a photo of me on those roads with those big cypress trees printed and it will be on the wall at our house.”
That eleventh stage to Montalcino was a dusty one, but the Giro d'Italia was mainly characterized by rain, a lot of cold rain. The Kalas clothing the team wears has been tested to the limit.
“The Shark jersey has saved my life more than once."
“The Shark rain jersey has saved my life more than once,” he says. “We had two cars in the race as a team. There was one with the leading group and one behind the peloton. When Tim, Alexander (Krieger) and I got dropped from that peloton one day, we could no longer reach the rain bags in the car. We learned the hard way! You notice on such a day how important it is to stay warm. We also had new Z1 merino base layers that really helped us in the cold mountain stages. We always had multiple layers on. If you are wet, you should above all stay warm. A warm, dry shirt is so nice. Getting cold could mean the end of your race.”
De Bondt will enjoy his status as champion of his country for another week in the Lotto Belgium Tour from 9 to 13 June. The following week, he plans to use his form and experience from the Giro to attempt a second Belgian title.
“The course is slightly less difficult than last year, but we are the favourite as a team,” he says of the Belgian championships in Waregem. “The champion’s jersey is so stylish. I had already looked at Tim (Merlier)'s jersey for a year before I won it myself. I hope I can win it again, but on June 20 we have chances with Tim, Gianni, Jonas (Rickaert) and Jasper (Philipsen). We will be the team everybody looks at that day.”
Image credit: photonews.be