More than 50,000 teams compete for the title of best Sporza Cycling Manager. A few pros from the peloton are also taking their chance. In the 3rd episode of Kopman, Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) reveals his team. For example, we become acquainted with dark horse Vito Braet and we also see that he has not chosen any teammates.
Dries De Bondt has had an excellent spring so far with a 3rd place in Le Samyn and a 2nd place in the GP Monseré, although the latter does not count in our cycling manager. And yet he also finds time to play with Sporza Wielermanager.
“I’m not that happy at the moment,” he says. “I had Tiesj Benoot as leader in the Strade Bianche, so I cursed. But I do have the right names for the rest of the spring. When I look at the results in Paris-Nice, it is very encouraging. Mads Pedersen, for example .”
“What Wout van Aert experienced with him in Paris-Nice I have also seen from the front row in the Star of Bessèges. So this is no surprise to me. Is he not driving Milan-Sanremo? That is a problem then. .”
“And I am very hopeful for an outlier from Sasha Weemaes. I started training with it this week, that is one of my jokers. I hope he shows something in Brugge-De Panne.”
And then there is the striking name of Vito Braet. “That was a tip from Tim Merlier. That is a newcomer and with his Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise team it is true that everyone gets their chance. And Tim said that he could place himself in a group sprint and that he certainly has the legs. to survive a difficult course.”
I have very high hopes for an outlier from Sasha Weemaes. I started training with it this week, that’s one of my jokers
“My teammates don’t give enough return on investment”
What is striking in Dries De Bondt’s team is the absence of riders from Alpecin-Fenix. “I didn’t take Mathieu van der Poel for logical reasons. And no, I don’t know when he will return either,” laughs De Bondt.
But also no Tim Merlier or Jasper Philipsen. The reason is simple. “I just think they are too expensive. Tim was 8 million and he has to score in Brugge-De Panne and Gent-Wevelgem, but when I look at the great classics … Then you’re better with Mads Pedersen. That was only 6 million. Of course Merlier will now win Nokere Koerse, but that is not enough. You do not win Sporza Wielermanager with that. It was weighing up what the return would be on my investment.”
According to Tom Vandenbulcke, De Bondt himself was to blame for the fact that Merlier did not take points in Le Samyn. De Bondt was in group 1 and did not wait for his sprinter. “Whether I did that because I didn’t have him in my team myself? That would be great. But no. I took the lead to make the pace and I thought Lotto-Soudal would help me, but nobody had the idea that they had to follow me and suddenly I was alone in front.”
“I also knew with Jasper that he would not ride the opening weekend and I don’t know his program 100 percent myself. So he was too expensive.”
And no Dries De Bondt in Dries De Bondt’s team either. “I didn’t want to put that pressure on myself. Maybe I should have done it. But I was allowed to ride these three races for myself, but now I will have to ride for service more often. And I can’t be busy with my cycling manager during the race. “
The riders of Dries De Bondt
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