Wout Poels shall be one in all a handful of former winners at this yr’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, however the Bahrain Victorious rider is taking a brand new strategy to the ultimate Classic of the spring.
The Dutchman has taken inspiration from teammate and podium-finisher in 2023, Santiago Buitrago, by finishing 5 days of preparation for Liège-Bastogne-Liège on the Tour of the Alps earlier than taking up Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
The now-veteran, 36-year-old Poels will make his eleventh begin at La Doyenne on Sunday, eight years after he took the largest win of his profession in a reduced-group dash forward of Michael Albasini and Rui Costa whereas driving for Team Sky.
He has usually accomplished the Ardennes races as a trio of races however after his Colombian teammate discovered nice type with third in 2023 after racing in South Tyrol and Trentino, Poels has opted to observe go well with.
He has not taken a prime 10 at Liège-Bastogne-Liège since 2019 however hopes that can change on Sunday, after flying to Belgium from Italy after the Tour of the Alps ends on Friday.
“I hope it is a good prep but it surely’s all gonna be very tight and it is slightly little bit of of venture for myself however we are going to see. Last yr it labored fairly nicely with Santi [Buitrago] so hopefully, it should work nicely for me additionally,” Poels instructed Cyclingnews.
“It’s at all times good to return, Liège-Bastogne-Liège modified my biking life after all.”
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Poels’ solely Monument triumph got here amid his stint as one of many tremendous domestiques at Team Sky who labored tirelessly to assist Chris Froome take 4 Tour de France titles.
Pinned to his Instagram web page is the submit from that day in 2016 with the caption “So this was actually not a dream…”
It will after all be a troublesome ask to beat the modern-day superstars {of professional} biking however Poels is aware of simply what it takes on these brutally lengthy days within the saddle.
Despite driving a troublesome moist stage in Austria on Wednesday, Poels joked he wasn’t too desperate to get again to racing in Wallonia after seeing the hellishly chilly circumstances that noticed solely 44 males end Flèche Wallonne.
“To win a Monument is very nice to have behind your identify so for positive that race is at all times fairly particular,” Poels stated.
“But hopefully, the climate is best than Wednesday in Fleche, it was trying actually chilly.”
If Buitrago’s efficiency from final yr is something to go off, Poels is nicely on monitor to carry out at Liège. The Colombian was eighth general on the Tour of the Alps in 2023 whereas the Dutchman presently sits equal-third, 48 seconds off the lead of Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek) after the Spaniard gained stage 3.
He’s additionally been working for younger Italian Antonio Tiberi, along with his teammate additionally 48 seconds off the lead. They’ll have yet one more probability on Friday to attempt to snatch the general victory.
After racing Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Poels will start his remaining preparations for the Giro d’Italia, the place he shall be chasing a stage win to finish the illustrious Grand Tour set after his breakaway successes from the Tour de France and Vuelta a España in 2023.
Poels took two of the best breakaway wins of the season in 2023, beating Belgian superstars Wout van Aert (Visam-Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) on the summit end to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc on the Tour de France after which the reduced-group dash to Guadarrama on the Vuelta a España.
He’s a modified rider after swapping his domestique position at Team Sky to observe his personal ambitions at Bahrain-Victorious in 2019, but it surely wasn’t an instantaneous transition into profitable for the Dutchman with a three-year win-drought solely coming to an finish on the Ruta del Sol in 2022.
“Last yr was wonderful after all with the Tour and the Vuelta and that was slightly little bit of the rationale why I modified groups,” Poels admitted.
“It took 4 years to attain that but it surely’s tremendous good to have. Of course this yr the massive objective goes to be on the Giro to have a stage in all three Grand Tours and I feel we’re actually good on monitor for that.”