Rien van Gendt is a globally renowned expert in European and U.S After successful tenures at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy where he has served as director for nearly 18 years He is the author of the recently published book “Philanthropy Back to the Drawing Board,” and he has served on Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) Inc We sat down with Rien to discuss his career and the advice he has for the NextGen leadership beginning careers in philanthropy today RPA: You are a recognized leader in European philanthropy who has also served as a powerful bridge between U.S What continue to be the biggest differences between European and U.S.-based philanthropy and what can the two sectors still learn from each other Rien: Before answering that question, let me say how important it is to see what the U.S. and Europe can do in common. Years ago, I was the chair of the International Committee of the European Foundation Centre (now Philea) and, at the same time, the chair of the International Committee in the U.S. of the Council on Foundations We decided to make up for what governments were not doing and to cooperate in the time of the Patriot Act foundations and European foundations – started working together in Latin America and southern Africa It felt very strange after the fall of the Berlin Wall that it was not European foundations that came in first to boost to civil society The craft of grantmaking is further advanced in the U.S The whole discussion about proxy voting and shareholder engagements in the U.S had already published works on impact investing and scaling up before these became issues in Europe Europe has so many different cultures and countries that you realize there is not one solution for a problem You always think in terms of the cultural context European foundations are more bureaucratized you are able to move the needle in a better way “Philanthropy Back to the Drawing Board,” you’re fairly critical of the sector’s current practices to hear more about your thoughts on the legitimacy of philanthropy Why is the philanthropic sector experiencing a crisis of legitimacy and what can it do to address it but we live in an era where there is criticism about everything.” But is this criticism on philanthropy or is it a criticism on philanthropists it begs the question: How is that money earned I don’t think there ought to be democratic decision-making in philanthropy because the advantage of the sector is that you don’t have that same kind of accountability to parliaments and that you have a large degree of freedom That allows you to play the wild card and to take risks when we brought the company to the stock exchange and we had the serious discussion of are we becoming too big Can we still take that same risk profile in terms of our spending if we double our size The criticism is often on “mega philanthropy.” Do we practice what we preach you end up with the darling NGOs of this world that are already overfunded “Do we have a finger on the pulse of society?” Many foundations are proactive in that they feel they know what the problems are and then we will invite you to submit a proposal.” After Brexit Why didn’t we see this coming?” It’s because philanthropy did not have a finger on the pulse of society Looking at legitimacy and the license to operate there are a lot of things that have to be demystified and we have to show what our added value is RPA: 2024 has been the biggest year of elections with more than 60 countries seeing almost half of the world’s population voting and many revealed growing socioeconomic tensions and divides that threaten the tensile strength of societies What role does philanthropy have to help societies address the challenges we are facing today in supporting the most vulnerable communities Do you think philanthropy is living up to its promise and potential Rien: We must look at the polycrisis and the fact that there are so many interrelated challenges there may be collateral negative effects on climate You ought to look at it in a more holistic approach But are the tools of philanthropy in sync with what is required to do that You can’t have systems change if you do it solo and especially to the people most affected How do you engage the wider society in what you do The corporate sector has management and a supervisory board and there is a disciplinary effect that shareholders can have on a company What is the equivalent for shareholders in philanthropy Those are the people that are not the grantees They are the ones who will bear the fruit or the negative side effects of what we do RPA: You’ve served on the board of RPA Inc What are you most proud of during your tenure at RPA there are so many fantastic things that RPA did The fact that RPA is now leading the charge in establishing a collaborative on lead poisoning is fantastic That combination of professional work and thought leadership has always been the RPA way RPA: Is there anything about government work you would like to see the philanthropic community adopt in its approaches (or vice versa) Rien: Somehow, when I started in philanthropy in 1988 as the director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation things were falling into place with respect to government and we were thinking of scaling up our experiences Having had that experience in government and knowing how government functions I knew you should not and cannot avoid government That was useful in the same way my corporate sector experience was important because in the corporate sector you know what it is to fail and you learn from your mistakes That is important in philanthropy because you don’t just sign this check; the check is not an end product You start thinking about long-term strategy I was in touch with the greatest thought leaders of the world you take time to think and to go to the root causes but you don’t take enough time to go much deeper and I really appreciated that in government philanthropy has been more agile than government We were able to react more swiftly than government what professional advice would you give early-career-age Rien van Gendt or professionals now entering the philanthropic sector Rien: I entered the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris after a short career in academia But I always realized the advantage of the OECD was that I could leave the OECD and take my experience with me at the next step I often tell people that come into the foundation world Suck up that experience and use it in your next step program specialists see themselves as the changemaker the real changemakers are the people who work on the ground if you take that on-the-ground experience and you distill out of that the lessons learned be a bit humble and realize the real change is being done by the people on the ground Realize the world around you is often different Saskia van Gendt became Chief Sustainability Officer at Blue Yonder in 2023 having previously held roles including Head of Sustainability at Rothy’s Senior Director of Sustainability at method products and Sustainable Materials Manager at the US Environmental Protection Agency In this Q&A, Saskia discusses the key trends and progress in applying technology for a circular supply chain model The circular economy is a business model based on sustainability principles and an evolution from the linear "take businesses eliminate waste and promote the continual use of resources through reusing the concept aligns closely with international sustainability initiatives such as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals by fostering responsible consumption and production The circular supply chain model – as an extension of the circular economy - encourages businesses to loop their supply chains to achieve cost efficiencies reduce excess inventory and minimise their environmental impact this means integrating potential financial and environmental repercussions into existing decision-making processes and engaging with stakeholders in achieving broader sustainability goals The significance of sustainability and the circular economy has accelerated the interest of governments and regulators Among the most important current examples is the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) the ESPR “aims to significantly improve the sustainability of products placed on the EU market by improving their circularity ESPR aims to enhance sustainability by increasing recycled content requirements for products and addressing barriers such as costly reverse logistics The regulation also encourages supply chain efficiency to reduce costs and improve long-term planning for incorporating recycled materials into production cycles ESPR will require companies to report on unsold goods and by 2026 it will ban the destruction of unsold products initially targeting the clothing and footwear industries with potential expansion into other sectors such as electronics ESPR targets ‘substances of concern’ – such as chemicals – that may hinder product recyclability or reuse and companies must achieve full supply chain visibility and collaborate with suppliers to ensure they address these requirements Then there’s the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) another EU Directive which aims to standardise the way businesses carry out sustainability reporting The CSRD is designed to provide stakeholders with detailed comparable and reliable information about companies' environmental social and governance (ESG) impacts and performance It also expands the number of companies required to report on sustainability listed SMEs and non-EU companies with significant operations in the EU and the first companies had to apply the rules for the first time in the 2024 financial year Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws require manufacturers to be responsible for the takeback and end-of-life management of several product categories including batteries California passed Senate Bill 707 (SB 707) requiring large apparel and textile producers to manage fashion and textiles waste by 2030 2027 will see the introduction of new EU rules to empower consumers for the green transition consumers will receive better and more harmonised information on its durability and reparability Companies must also provide better information to consumers about their guarantee rights while “vague environmental claims will be forbidden meaning that companies will no longer be able to declare that they are ‘green’ or ‘environmentally friendly’ if they cannot demonstrate that they are.” In addition the use of “unreliable voluntary sustainability logos” will be banned and unfair commercial practices linked to early obsolescence will be prohibited including false claims about the sustainability of an asset.  Given the highly complex and interconnected nature of contemporary supply chains optimising sustainability is increasingly dependent on advanced technologies to bridge the gap between objectives and impact It will come as no surprise that AI-powered systems are being rolled across supply chain ecosystems and are driving significant improvements in the way organisations can approach sustainability at every level the technology is increasingly used to provide end-to-end visibility across all supply chain tiers assess environmental impact and ensure regulatory compliance AI-driven solutions are also helping to minimise surplus production forecast short shelf-life products and optimise energy usage in transportation and warehousing significantly reducing environmental impact improving operational efficiency via processes such as dynamic slotting real-time inventory management and transport management – each of which contributes towards lower emissions and fuel consumption technology solutions reduce the complexity and cost of reverse logistics by identifying network efficiencies an approach which supports the recovery and reuse of post-consumer and post-industrial materials for recycled content.  Demand Planning and Inventory Management solutions prevents over-ordering and reduces waste Softline customers are avoiding overproduction through intelligent inventory planning that accounts for seasonal variability These planning solutions help fashion companies address the up to five billion excess garments produced each year and enable compliance with EU regulations prohibiting the disposal of unworn garments.  Transportation plays a vital role in the supply chain where big gains can be made with regards to sustainability Transport Management solutions increase efficiency to reduce miles travelled and associated emissions with a single logistics solution maximised truck capacity and improved asset utilisation by 7% Eliminating 1.4 million miles travelled in Brazil alone Planning and warehouse management solutions (WMS) enables real-time decision intelligence and visibility into product and fulfilment emissions the global market leader in fresh strawberries leverages WMS to manage cold-chain operations between more than 900 independent growers and consumers in over 20 countries. WMS inventory rotation capabilities manage the shelf life to avoid waste from warehouse to shelf​ WMS demand forecasting creates forecasts of where and when berries are sent from the fields so that their supply and demand isn’t overestimated Explore the latest edition of Sustainability Magazine and be part of the conversation at our global conference series, Sustainability LIVE.  Discover all our upcoming events and secure your tickets today Sustainability Magazine is a BizClik brand the profitability of sustainability & carbon credit standards… US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order looking to increase deep sea mining drawing concerns for undiscovered species living there… This week's top stories include Earth Day China's NDCs & Sustainability LIVE Dubai… allrounders and breakaway artists makes the Volta like no other week-long stage race You can't help noticing that the Volta a Catalunya always brings together a lot of riders with a lot of very different goals there are not just those looking to do well in the Giro d'Italia Then of course there are those aiming at the Ardennes Classics interested in doing first Catalunya and afterwards Pais Vasco because that combination gives the climbers and punchy riders an extra edge for Amstel The effect of all these different interests is to make the Volta a very tricky race to read This applies most of all on the first day: the GC riders' teams don't want to start chasing too early because it would reveal their objectives and mean they are then expected to chase all week.  But also the sprinters' teams aren't always so interested in chasing down the breakaways either. This means Catalunya is normally very good for breakaways more than any other race and that included stage 1 in 2019 We'd talked about it already the day before in the team hotel and I had the plan of having at least 3:15 on the top of the last climb – which I did and then I knew I would make it to the finish That was because as usual on stage 1 of Catalunya the GC teams were looking at each other and not wanting to commit so it was up to the sprinters' squads to work and I was doing 400 Watts on that last long climb of the day 400 Watts is something I knew the three top sprinters present - Andre Greipel Nacer Bouhanni and Alvaro Hodeg  - wouldn't be able to match.  So I was sure their teams wouldn't be able to go faster than me because they would have dropped their sprinters if they had.  but that kind of success can only happen in races like Catalunya and where the rest of the squads don't want to work so soon It's true Catalunya is also a race with no pure sprint days they're more designed for sprinters who can climb like Michael Matthews and also you have real mountains stage and then some circuit races like in Barcelona But that made it my favourite race to do because there is something for everybody – and as a breakaway rider you have more chances to win in other races The complete alternative - that a rider like Tadej Pogačar comes to Catalunya like in 2024 and manages to win a huge number of stages - is occasionally possible.  I wouldn't say UAE were training their Tour de France support train for him already in Catalunya last year but they certainly clamped down on the breaks in a way that didn't happen in other editions last year Catalunya became a test for July You don't send a rider to Catalunya who cannot climb well and you can see that because if you ride a 20-minute climb at 400 Watts average in Catalunya almost everybody is still there at the top. Only a few other events almost immediately 60 or 70 guys are dropped.  So that shows how high the level is at Catalunya Maybe they should put a time trial into the route - I only did one individual TT in the 12 or 13 I raced -  but I think the mountain top stages are definitely hard enough to make a real difference anyway It's true that Catalunya sometimes used to get a bit lost in the Belgian media with all the Classics going on at the same time But in 2024 with Pogačar and in 2023 when Roglič and Evenepoel were there they only thought it was just a small Spanish race suddenly it was getting a lot of analysis in the media and they realised Catalunya had real mountain stages with 4,000 or 5,000 metres of climbing Even Evenepoel said it was one of the hardest week-long stage races he'd ever done and the climbers have to be almost at 100% just to have a chance of a good GC result.  and on its two different routes for the laps through the park the easier one and the steeper one they brought in a few years ago but Montjuic is only uphill and downhill and that makes it special because you know that in the bunch on a course like that they can't push much harder than 400 Watts and they won’t regain so much time on the descents if you had a gap of one minute and were able to keep pushing hard Then with the crowds on the Montjuic climbs it's always really nice for the riders to race while the spectators can both see the riders five or six times and see everybody suffering I’m sure that's why there are always so many people there you will then be prompted to enter your display name The Belgian won stage eight of the 2019 Tour de France with a 14km solo attack Ryder Hesjedal and Thomas De Gendt on the final podium of the 2012 Giro d'Italia The breakaway legend takes on Cycling Weekly's Q&A Thomas De Gendt is one of cycling fans' most adored breakaway attackers he earned stage wins at all three Grand Tours – the Tour de France Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España – riding mostly for Lotto Soudal It was a rental bike from the team I joined when I was 10 years old Did you follow pro cycling when you were growing up Not really. My brother was a cyclist – he did mostly cyclo-cross and MTB I went to the cyclo-cross races to watch him and give him a bottle after the finish Watching races on TV didn't really happen [for me] until I was racing myself What other interests did you have when you were younger We found some kind of loophole to race in the Netherlands so we started doing these races in the Netherlands from 10 years old until I was 14 Jens Voigt was one of my cycling heroes and he did his job for the yellow jersey at the time What appealed to you about being an aggressive It's just the way I always raced from when I was younger and I continued racing like this when I was a pro What is the proudest moment of your career The podium in the Giro [Ed. De Gendt finished third at the 2012 Giro d'Italia It was something special to be Belgian on the podium of a Grand Tour It was not really planned for me to go for the GC in that Giro It was really strange for me to be in Milan on the podium next to two great riders [Ryder Hesjedal and Joaquim Rodríguez] The journey to the podium was three weeks of suffering but when you're suffering and you're there with 10 of the greatest climbers Those three weeks are a really good memory What inspired your transition to gravel after your road retirement Just stopping and not racing anymore would be really strange for me because I've been preparing for races since I was 10 years old which I want to do at least once in my life It was the right moment to change to travel and just experience it for at least a year Do you have any ambitions you'd like to achieve with your gravel racing I was aiming to be on the podium of one of the bigger races I've let my ambitions go and I'm just trying to enjoy every race Gravel used to be a sport for failed pro cyclists and cyclists that retired The riders push the same [power] numbers as I did on the road for the last 12 years and they train like they're on the WorldTour Some of them would even fit in a WorldTour team and perform well in a stage race Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 *Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1 offering race analysis and rider interviews Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides His best result is 28th in a hill-climb competition The road career of Thomas De Gendt drew to a close this week the Belgian – now 37 years old – has enjoyed a prosperous career and built a huge fan base thanks to a penchant for breakaways often jumping clear of the field and riding his own race either in a select front group or solo Here’s a compilation of five of our favourites Thomas De Gendt breakaways Related questions you can explore with Ask Cyclist, our AI search engine.If you would like to ask your own question you just need to Login, Register or subscribe Stage 2 of the 2018 Tour de Romandie was pencilled in as one for the sprinters despite an uphill slog in the middle of the day but a resilient breakaway would change that De Gendt formed an early five-man break with teammate Victor Campenaerts as the race departed Delémont and covered 174km towards Yverdon-Les-Bains Managing to dislodge what was left of the breakaway over the second of three uncategorised climbs De Gendt went solo for the remaining 26km towards victory He finished the day with a gap of two minutes to the next group on the road It was a masterful display of teamwork from the Lotto-Soudal team and a successful day out in front for the breakaway expert He would go on to win the mountains and points jerseys too The opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya in 2019 was a 163.7km ride starting and finishing in the Spanish coastal town of Calella Initially working as part of a six-man breakaway De Gendt rode clear in the final 60km of the day with an attack towards the penultimate climb of the Coll de Formic By the time he hit the summit of the shorter final climb of the Port de Collsacreu his gap had grown to almost four minutes and the peloton seemed content in the shadow of his stage victory De Gendt rode into the lead of the race with an almost three-minute advantage and would lead the GC for the next two stages Catalunya has always presented itself as a stage-hunting ground for the Belgian Stage 7 of the 2012 Paris-Nice was a 219km ride from Sisteron to Nice teamed up for a breakaway with Cofidis’s Rein Taaramäe The pair stayed together on the first climb of the day and their gap swelled to 12 minutes over the bunch on the longest day of the race De Gendt dropped his battling breakaway companion on the Col de Vence It was on the descent that he worked his magic to put real distance between the pair He would've had time to stop for a coffee and still win Instead he raised his arms in celebration and waited more than six minutes for Taaramäe to cross the line just ahead of the closing peloton In 2019, the Tour de France peloton covered 200km from Macon on Stage 8 a hilly day that incorporated four Category 2 climbs on the road towards Saint-Étienne who was riding for Total Direct Énergie at the time before they were joined by Alessandro De Marchi With his Lotto-Soudal teammate Tim Wellens in the polka dot jersey De Gendt began hoovering up mountain points The breakaway split after the Côte de la Croix de Part leaving a duo of De Gendt and De Marchi to maintain a lead of almost four minutes on the peloton The Côte de la Jaillière was the final uphill struggle and this is where De Gendt went solo as the gap to the chasers dipped below a minute. Behind, Julian Alaphilippe and Thibaut Pinot jumped clear and by the final 5km it stood at just 20 seconds Saint-Étienne was a finish location he knew well having won there at the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2017 from another breakaway Alaphilippe tried everything to close the gap but it was of no use – De Gendt won his second Tour stage with hands on his helmet in disbelief It was still a jubilant day for French fans as Alaphilippe took over the honour of wearing the yellow jersey from Trek-Segafredo’s Giulio Ciccone it is one that De Gendt considers number one in his personal rankings De Gendt began the day eighth on general classification, 5min 40sec down on maglia rosa Joaquim Rodríguez of Katusha It was on the Mortirolo that he began attacking and eventually rode clear from Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Mikel Nieve and Lampre ISD’s Damiano Cunego in the final 12km he threatened to work his way into the pink jersey at one point inching to just a few seconds back on Rodríguez on the virtual classification As he crossed the line at the highest point of the race on the Stelvio De Gendt forged a name for himself with his first Grand Tour victory but also moved closer to the podium he moved up to third for a famous Grand Tour podium it was an almighty day in the breakaway that resulted in one of the best victories of De Gendt’s career and added more stories to the legend of the Stelvio You must be logged in to post a comment To manage an existing Cyclist magazine subscription, please visit Manage your account or visit our subscription FAQ page. To subscribe, or for other enquiries, please contact us Sign up to the Cyclist newsletter to receive curated emails direct to your inbox Sign up to our newsletter Log in to access Cyclist Rides using your email pertaining to your subscription Don't forget a subscription to Cyclist includes: Log in to post comments and use Ask Cyclist our AI platform that answers your questions based on our articles Register to comment on our latest articles Occasional emails from selected third-party sponsors and advertisers Please enter your username or email address to reset your password Please note that this is an automated translation and it will not be perfect All articles have been written in English and if anything appears to not make sense This man would like to know if you've seen any illegal motors In the first of a brand new column for Cyclingnews Classified X Rose Team rider writes about exciting new terrain at the Santa Vall weekend in Girona The first thing I can say about my first gravel race is - I need to learn everything again I couldn't really do anything for the first time anymore as I'd done all the important races multiple times So while it was always exciting to start a Grand Tour it was less so when I had to start Paris-Nice for the 14th time You've never seen most of them before as they were never in road cycling How you work with the bike itself is different, too. You have to take care of it yourself and think about things like tyre pressure and tyre choice there was no car behind me giving me a new wheel I had to figure out how to fix the tyre myself and pump it up Another great thing is that nobody cares if you are 20th or 120th I was expecting a difficult start to my gravel racing and actually it was a bit more difficult than I was expecting with everybody testing each other even before the first climb All this was on roads that are sometimes single track and the guys that live and train here in Girona knew the course very well I was sitting in the first ten of the first bunch and it wasn't easy to stay there.  The power levels are the same as in the WorldTour there was a part with single track and everybody had to get off the bike apart from the first six or seven leaders That was where it split into three groups and I was on the wrong side but the difference between a good result and an average result comes down to those sorts of things and finally with a long climb before the halfway point I was 19th in the second group but then there was a one-kilometre steep uphill So everybody had to stay in the position they had and the first five were already 40 seconds away when we got off it not a big result -  but a lot of experience learned For the first hour and a half on Saturday I was pushing 350 360 watts on average so it's not just like being in a bunch A lot of the guys who are racing here would do well in the WorldTour as well and it surprised me a little bit that the level was really so high.  If you are in a team you can ride together where there are attacks before the climbs and if you have a teammate they can close the gap But unfortunately one of our teammates was sick last week another's just coming off a cyclocross season so he's not in great shape anymore a third one was just getting sick and didn't start Sunday Other teams that were there with three or four guys could really help each other to close gaps If you are alone you have to fight for every spot they don't just let you in because you've won some races in the past but the biggest one is you always have to fight for your position I had a really good feeling through the whole race and then suddenly there was a lot of single track and I found myself in position 25 And that was really hard, I really had to fight for a front position again but you have to try and stay in the top 10 the whole time so you can jump in the moves that are happening and that way you don't have to sprint after every corner So that's the biggest lesson for next time at least for races where there's a lot of uphill and downhill: always stay on the front Breakaway specialist riding final Grand Tour of career Early on stage 6 of the Vuelta a España sharp-eyed fans will have noticed that a familiar figure was on the move for the breakaways, as specialist Thomas de Gendt tried his best to push clear in what will be his last ever Grand Tour The 37-year-old did not manage this time around But as a rider whose ability to make breakaway succeeds now forms part of pro cycling's urban legends expectations remain high that the Lotto Dstny racer will at some point be off the front and battling for at least one last stage win Although young teammate Lennert van Eetvelt is fighting for the overall sports director Mario Aerts told Cyclingnews this would not affect the Belgian veteran's opportunities to shine on his own account "For the moment we're still keeping all our options open," Aerts said and when needed he will do his job for Lenny And if there is a chance on one of the days for Thomas De Gendt is riding his 25th Grand Tour and come what may they will be celebrating his 500th day of racing in cycling's top three-week races on stage 20 given that day will be one of the toughest of the entire Vuelta and a big GC stage his chances of going for a win will be minimal if there are other opportunities to go for his eleventh Grand Tour stage win and second to date in the Vuelta a España but I'll have to see whether I'm good enough," De Gendt told Cyclingnews earlier this week I think I'd have a difficult time to win a stage because in cycling the level has risen a bit more than my level was rising in the last weeks I just hope it's good enough to be in a break but I know it will be difficult." Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) makes his own mission notably easier "There are some days that are really good for breaks this year and even if it's a mountain or summit finish at the end it's still got possibilities," De Gendt said "You just have to have the right riders with you that you can beat on a climb and the freedom to manoeuvre as you want "That's why it's important there's no Remco Vingo' or Pog' in the race because if they were here those teams always close the gap to get a stage win themselves The dearth of sprinting stages has already had one effect which is to suffocate the breakaways on the few flat days to date in the Vuelta So the first time he made a move was on stage 6 where - with the exception of the GC stage to Villuercas - the fastmen had no chance of victory "I already knew there are not so many sprint days and only three or four real sprinters this year in the race," De Gendt said "So that makes it really difficult to win on days like stages 2 or 3 because you know that the sprinters' teams will be certain to control things making sure there weren't too many riders up there in the breaks." "It would have been stupid to attack on those days maybe if you wanted the King of the Mountains jersey De Gendt may be pulling down the curtain on the breakaways and all the other features of his professional life very soon any sense of nostalgia sparked by the imminent end to his 16-year career has yet to hit home I will still do the Italian Classics after that it's just like one of the many Grand Tours you do although maybe on the last day of the Vuelta as that''ll probably be my last time trial I'm just concentrating on the racing and staying focussed Alasdair FotheringhamSocial Links NavigationAlasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991 He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain he has also written for The Independent,  The Guardian,  ProCycling 'A win in Omloop means your Classics season is already made' In Belgium, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is the next biggest Classic after the Tour of Flanders but simply because it's the first one of the year Everybody is very eager to watch this race on TV Omloop used to be the first bike race for all the big names so everybody was excited about how their favourite rider was going to perform the newspapers are full of articles about the Classics about if certain teams have strong enough domestiques to support the big names Omloop is also a very hard race to predict several of the riders who won Omloop were not really the team leaders it just means this team's domestiques will be at a very high level for the whole Classics season It's a bit too early to be at a really good level because if they win they have to keep it up for five or six weeks which is doable but they would prefer to be at their best at the beginning of April.  If a top rider wins, it's because they are such good riders: Wout van Aert, say, or Mathieu van der Poel But I don't see them dominating like they do in the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix they'll have the global result from the two races and if you don't have a podium from Opening Weekend it's a really bad start and the sponsors already starting to get nervous that means your Classics season is already made and the sponsors are already very happy I know this from when Arnaud de Lie got second for Lotto in the 2023 Omloop. Before that, we hadn't had a run of good results in Opening Weekend and I could see the team manager and the sports directors were getting a bit nervous because we didn't have that result the sponsors weren't happy and everybody was watching.  now they were all saying we would have a good Classics season And if he's not up there on Saturday then a top three on Sunday in Kuurne will already make the weekend a bit better and which will say more about riders' condition than Sunday.  On Sunday if there is no wind and it's not really rainy or cold On Saturday even in the best of weather conditions and without any wind I don't see a big group of riders sprinting for the victory The weather is always a really big factor at Omloop and that's one reason why it's totally different to what's come before in the season You can win your races in UAE and the Algarve Omloop is totally different in other ways too right down to demanding a different kind of effort compared to those early-season races Omloop is 120 kilometres of full-gas racing because you just don't have races the same as Omloop before Most of the races they are doing are what we call spielerei [childsplay] like they are still playing a little bit and just testing the legs here or there But Omloop is the first time the big teams can test their domestiques everything: all the rest is actually just child's play in comparison but for the people in Belgium Omloop is the first real race and all the rest beforehand is just training: that's how they see it at least.  and I know they went very fast in the Tour of Oman this year as well But in Belgium – that's just not the same Welcome to the latest edition of Pro Log where we look at the pro cycling news from the past week Here’s a rundown of the latest results before we get started:   Grace Brown might be retiring at the end of the season but she’s making sure she’s going out with a bang The 32-year-old Australian became the first rider to win both the Olympic and World Championship individual time-trial titles in the same year beating the Netherlands’ Demi Vollering by 16sec to secure the rainbow bands Defending champion Chloé Dygert of the United States finished third.  Brown set the best time at the first intermediate checkpoint by 6sec but fell behind Vollering by almost 9sec at the second check She emptied the tank over the final stretch of the 29.9km course to finish with a time of 39min 16sec.  she dominated the field on the rainy streets of Paris winning by 1min 31sec ahead of Great Britain’s Anna Henderson. A gold medal and a rainbow jersey is surely the perfect way to go into retirement Olympic ITT gold medallist Remco Evenepoel matched Brown’s achievement by also riding to victory at the World Championships covering the 46.1km course at an average speed of 52.2kmh.   It was a close call between the Belgian and Italy’s Filippo Ganna Ganna was the penultimate rider to set off and recorded a new fastest time of 53min 08sec at the finish line knocking compatriot Edoardo Affini off the hot seat and catching Primož Roglič just before the line Ganna only had a few seconds to enjoy it before Evenepoel – who later revealed he was riding without a power meter – shaved six seconds off his time to claim the rainbow jersey for the second year in a row.  Australia’s Jay Vine had held the best time at the third intermediate time check before Ganna and Evenepoel passed through however he arrived at the finish line covered in blood and sporting a ripped skinsuit The TV cameras didn’t catch the crash that pushed Vine out of medal contention but he later described it as a ‘silly mistake on a non-technical section’ that was ‘gut wrenching’.  Lotto-Dstny’s Thomas De Gendt has called time on his career retiring after Paris-Chauny where he finished 59th and was presented with a trophy from the race to mark the occasion.   The 37-year-old Belgian has had a fruitful career with 17 pro victories He finished third overall at the Giro d’Italia in 2012 and won stages in all three Grand Tours.   His versatility as a rider saw him win in the high mountains, with success on the Stelvio in 2012 and on Ventoux in 2016 but De Gendt is best known as an entertaining breakaway specialist He has yet to officially reveal his next plans but he has hinted on social media that he'll turn his attention to gravel racing You must be logged in to post a comment star of the 90s Flemish boy band Get Ready! The Antwerp public prosecutor's office has confirmed the news Glenn De Gendt was one of the four members of Flemish boy band Get Ready The public prosecutor's office speaks of suicide Koen Bruggemans and Glenn De Gendt formed one of the most popular boy bands ever in Flanders the group planned to call it quits after 30 years Glenn underwent an urgent medical procedure in September ‘It has been a tremendously painful period for him and he has been struggling with his health,’ the band's official website reads Glenn suffered a cardiac arrest and was in a coma for several days reading and remembering things,’ he recounted 10 years later ‘Marjolein’ and ‘Vuur’ earning the band several platinum and gold records The band was the support act for pop icon Michael Jackson in Ostend in 1997 after they met him at Disneyland Paris and Jackson received a tape via concert promoter Paul Ambach Will Tura also invited the band to his concerts at Vorst Nationaal Together with Liliane Saint-Pierre they also scored a hit with the up-tempo duet ‘Give me time’ In need of a chat? You can always contact helpline Tele-Onthaal 24/7 on the number 106. You can also chat at www.tele-onhaal.be  Young people can contact Awel on telephone number 102, or via chat at awel.be Hookless wheel systems are mostly safe; ignoring compatibility standards isn't Be one of the first to try our new activity feed The unrelated riders create their own GC classification at the Giro d'Italia It might not be an official classification but the battle to be the top De Gendt is quickly becoming one of the fan favorites at the Giro d’Italia Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Aimé De Gendt (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) — not related — have taken it upon themselves to see who truly is the best De Gendt The pair has taken the battle to social media making some good-natured jibes at each other over recent days There’s no sign of the Giro d’Italia rolling out a new jersey for the competition a De Gendt classification because we have the same last name but we are not family and we are in the same race but maybe we have to take it a bit more seriously now for the next weeks,” Thomas De Gendt told Eurosport ahead of stage 6 had to drop back from the peloton on stage 5 to help his sprinter Caleb Ewan it was Aimé — who was riding for Biniam Girmay — that took control of the new De Gendt classification https://twitter.com/AimeDeGendt/status/1524406239832297472?s=20&t=uQ4Glk5H47M-32yQ68-94g The 27-year-old now has a three-minute lead on his compatriot while this is Thomas’ sixth and he has previously finished on the proper GC podium “I told Thomas that my best result is never going to match his third place in the Giro but it’s a fun thing to do,” Aimé De Gendt said the mind games have already begun with each bigging up the other’s chances as the ultimate De Gendt I would have to say Thomas because I’m a little bit more heavy and there are still plenty of mountain stages to come so I think Thomas has the advantage,” Aimé said he has to stay with Girmay and I have to stay with Caleb It’s something fun to see if you are a domestique how much difference there can be every day,” Thomas countered “Yesterday I lost 12 minutes because I had to stay with Caleb and in the end I think it will be a surprising result so I think he will be better than me in the end.” but the best De Gendt competition is going to be an intriguing watch Happy days. I could move up in the GC for best De Gendt by taking advantage of @AimeDeGendt duty to stay with Girmay Tried being in the break in the start of the stage but it didn’t work out Let’s see if he can take advantage of my breakawaychasing duty’s tomorrow — Thomas De Gendt (@DeGendtThomas) May 10, 2022 'When you hit something hard enough to destroy the structure of a rim the tyre is going to come off' says American brand The biggest headlines of the past few weeks have all surrounded the dramatic pictures of Thomas De Gendt's bike propped against a barrier at the UAE Tour There is sealant splashed across the front wheel and a tyre insert exposed and jammed between the wheel and the fork So far the only thread that connected all those headlines is that no one knew for sure what happened.  Each has referenced an errant rock as the guilty party but showing the wheel in question dramatically damaged with a sizeable crack across the tyre bed.  our thoughts returned to the aforementioned shots of De Gendt's bike there was very little discussion of a damaged rim Surely a crack of this size would have been noticeable?  With a bit basic photoshop brightening adjustment applied to the high res images This aligns with with what Zipp engineers found during investigation and subsequent statement that "The engineers have reviewed the wheel in question and it was clearly a result of a significant impact When you hit something hard enough to destroy the structure of a rim and highlighted the ETRTO compliance of the rim and tyre combination as a potential factor in the equipment failure The ETRTO (European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation) guidelines are just that: guidelines It's unclear what rules the Lotto-Dstny mechanics were referring to but the only actual rules that govern rim and tyre compatibility come from the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) Its standard mandates that wheel and tyre combinations should be able to maintain 110% of the maximum tyre pressure for a time of five minutes As Felix Schäfermeier of Schwalbe says Reassuringly, the wheel and tyre brands we've spoken to all agree and are already testing well in excess of this for longer periods.  37-year-old Belgian breakaway king announces retirement but takes aim at final victories in Spain while “enjoying every race i will do in my final year.”  De Gendt quietly made the announcement via social media before a Saturday training ride quickly receiving hundreds of messages of appreciation.  “2024 will be the start of my 16th and final season as a pro,” he wrote in a brief message “My big goals are a 6th stage win in Volta Catalunya and a 2nd stage win in Vuelta a Espana enjoying every race will do in my final year.”   After riding to Spain through 47-degree heat, De Gendt turns to Pologne for Vuelta build-up Cycling transfers - All the latest news and announcements for the 2024 season Retirement class of 2023 - The riders calling time on their racing careers The 37-year-old Belgian will once again ride for Lotto Dstny in 2024 De Gendt turned professional with Topsport Vlaanderen in 2009 after three years at Continental level He began to secure important results at Vacansoleil-DCM and soloed to a stage victory on the Stelvio at the 2012 Giro d’Italia The stage win ensured De Gendt finished third overall behind Ryder Hesjedal and Joaquim Rodriguez.  De Gendt transformed his career by becoming a successful breakaway specialist using his power and race craft to force the right attack and then win His palmares includes stage victories at most WorldTour stage races one at the Vuelta a España and five at the Volta a Catalunya He is admired for his breakaway tenacity and his love of riding.  In 2018 he and close friend Bart Wellens rode home from Il Lombardia as an end of season road trip. In 2019 they completed a 700 km gravel ride in Spain. This summer De Gendt skipped the Tour de France to instead complete a 12-day ride from Belgium to Spain in preparation for the Vuelta a España Black Friday is quickly approaching and Cyclingnews is keeping track of all the deals, from equipment, clothing, accessories and technology. Check out the Black Friday deals which are curated and updated throughout each day in the UK Stephen FarrandSocial Links NavigationHead of NewsStephen is one of the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team having reported on professional cycling since 1994 He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022 before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters Thomas De Gendt climbed onto the podium as winner of stage 20 Thomas De Gendt rode into history today – and smack into the GC picture – with a solo victory on the legendary Passo Dello Stelvio or highest point in this year’s Giro d’Italia De Gendt jumped four places into into fourth in the overall standing After starting the day 5’40” back on the pink jersey Joquim Rodríguez (Katusha) and 5’27 behind Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) “I wasn’t expecting this,” admitted the 25-year-old Belgian I’ve ridden this climb 20 or 30 times in training so to win on my own training mountain is fantastic.” with Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) still in pink but gaining another 14 seconds on next-placed Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) when he gapped the Canadian near the top Hesjedal now sits 31 seconds behind the Spaniard overall leading into tomorrow’s 31.5km individual time trial in Milan He remains the favorite for the final maglia rosa going into the TT tomorrow as he’s the strongest of his rivals in the discipline De Gendt is also well-placed to climb onto the final podium as he too is considered a stronger time trialist than the others Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) remains third overall De Gendt dropped the rest of the day’s break on the Mortirolo climb and held off the closing GC riders to the top of the dreaded Stelvio with his gap hovering at about 5 minutes much of the way up The leaders began to chip away at that inside 10km He becomes the 11th different first-time grand tour winner in this year’s Giro But this one may be just a little more special coming as it did on the Queen stage that climbed almost 20,000 vertical feet with the highest finishing point ever in a grand tour He beat second place finisher and former Giro champ Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) by 55 seconds with Mikel Nieve (Eskaltel-Euskadi) in third 2’49” back Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) struggled again near the top losing 92 seconds on the Purito in the end Belgian Thomas De Gendt blasted an all French jury for naming Warren Barguil as the race’s most aggressive rider France (VN) — Belgian Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) who spent 1,280 kilometers in escapes in the Tour de France blasted an all French jury for naming Warren Barguil (Sunweb) as the race’s most aggressive rider De Gendt failed at winning a stage with his attempts, but at least wanted to take the overall Prix de la Combativite home. Instead, Frenchman Barguil — winner of two mountains stages and the climber’s jersey “Let at least one international jury member should have a say in it,” De Gendt said “If there were five Belgians in the jury This proves that the jury composition is not correct.” [pullquote align=“left” attrib=”Thomas De Gendt”]”If there were five Belgians in the jury This proves that the jury composition is not correct”[/pullquote] De Gendt won the Mont Ventoux stage in 2016 It at least earned him the combativity prize for the day The panel votes on the most aggressive rider of the day and after three weeks It does have an international flavor with Greg LeMond voting and public input coming via Twitter The three-time American worked for Eurosport during the Tour The rest of the panel includes Frenchmen Jean Montois (AFP) Laurent Jalabert (France Télévision) and Thierry Gouvenou (Tour de France) “I’m too disappointed to go deeper into it but I will do my utmost to make it a sprint on the Champs-Élysées today,” De Gendt added “Let me be clear: Barguil rode a fantastic Tour and he deserves everything But a mountains jersey is for the best climber a stage win is for the strongest guy of the day and the points jersey is there for the most consistent sprinter “I think the combativity jersey is there for the rider who showed throughout the whole Tour his intention to animate the race and to attack For me that hasn’t lead to the desired effect: a stage win but that is not necessary to win the super-combativity award.” De Gendt shared in Twitter the public’s vote The jury panel would have taken that into consideration in its decision [twitter url=”https://twitter.com/DeGendtThomas/status/888775253400399873″] “The public vote is worth more to me than the vote of six jury members.” riders gained points that put them in contention for the prize Peter Sagan took home the overall super-combativity award Belgian keen to broaden horizons with reduced calendar at Continental level though he has opened the door to continuing at a lower level beyond next year The Lotto-Dstny veteran will target stage wins at the Volta a Catalunya and Vuelta a España next season but has said that he hopes to spend time racing in Asia at Continental level saying that the chance to race there would "broaden the horizons." Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad the 37-year-old said that he "still wants to keep cycling a lot" adding that he's keen to continue exploring off-road racing having already competed in several gravel races in recent years but it could just as well be that I'll continue at Continental level we want to take in a lot of off-road events like the Cape Epic MTB race or gravel races in the USA," he said before talking about the potential to go to Asia "I would also like to race in Asia – Taiwan South Korea – purely for fun and about 40 race days a year There are enough Continental teams who already want to contract a European rider for some stage races in Asia I saw that those small Asian teams are well organised My former teammate Raymond Kreder rides for the Japanese team Ukiyo they leave him alone and then once in a while he comes over for the Tour of Japan It broadens the horizons and there's always a different Spending two or three years like that seems like a good idea to me." He said that should his Asian dream not work out then he'd be open to racing at Continental or club level in Belgium though he'd still be in favour of taking on a much-reduced calendar In the past three seasons De Gendt has raced 77 and he said that he wouldn't be able to go from that to zero "If that doesn't work out then I hope for a homegrown Continental team or club to compete in some races with," he said "But the intention is not for me to race as an elite all year round I don't know if it's healthy to suddenly say 'boom De Gendt's final season will mark his 10th with Lotto-Dstny after spells with Topsport Vlaanderen, Vacansoleil and QuickStep which saw him win stages at Paris-Nice, the Tour de Suisse, Volta a Catalunya and the Giro d'Italia also finishing second at the latter in 2012 Over the years, he's established himself as a breakaway specialist, and since joining Lotto he's won two stages at the Tour de France He said that a part of his decision arose from the months spent at home during the COVID-19 pandemic the result being that it has since been harder to be away from home and his children for long periods He had initially planned to retire in 2022 but his "level was still too good" and he found Lotto offering him a contract after the wins kept coming "I'm 99% sure that it will be my last year," De Gendt said referring to his new decision to hang up his wheels "If I really feel like I'm not completely finished and I get to a better level again… But it will definitely not be a two-year contract "That's one big question mark," he added when asked about his future beyond racing everything I know and say about racing is no longer relevant Racing changes a lot – for example I lived through the days when top riders kept quiet until the final 20km but now they start 100km from the finish." Dani has reported from the world's top races She has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars and her favourite races are the Giro d'Italia Breakaway specialist to keep hunting for stages at the Tour and Vuelta when racing restarts Breakaway king Thomas De Gendt isn’t going anywhere. The popular Belgian stage-hunter renewed his contract with Lotto-Soudal for two more years Since joining Lotto-Soudal in 2015, the 33-year-old has refined his barnstorming breakaway antics, with a day-long escape at last year’s Tour de France one of his most recent successful skirmishes He has also taken stage wins at a host of week-long races “I’ve known this house already for six years I have never been interested in another team Lotto-Soudal knows me and gives me the freedom I need a freedom that I would never get somewhere else I am convinced that together we still have nice years ahead of us.” De Gendt’s heart lies in sniping for stages rather than clattering over cobbles He is slated to be starting his season at the Tour de Pologne before lining up for his eighth Tour de France later in August After working for his teammates at the classics Lotto-Soudal was one of the first teams to scale back salaries and lay off temporary staff when coronavirus shuttered the season The renewal of De Gendt is a positive sign for the team’s future “I am happy to see that Thomas loves his current environment,” Lelangue said “He can win races but is a perfect team player as well This contract extension is good for the stability and continuity of the team Thomas understands that Lotto-Soudal really has a vision he has been so successful and loyal to the team With Thomas we continue to build on the team’s future More agreements will be announced soon.” Belgian veteran aiming for final stage win in Volta a Catalunya Thomas De Gendt has played down the significance of his spectacular tyre blowout in the UAE Tour where the Belgian’s mishap and subsequent crash sparked a wealth of speculation over the potential risks of a hookless rim system for tyres De Gendt himself concurred with that interpretation of events when he spoke with Cyclingnews at the Volta a Catalunya where he is gunning for one last stage win But the wheel was very damaged,” De Gendt said and their investigation said it was because of a rock or something on the road Thomas De Gendt to retire in 2024 after 16 years on the attack Thomas De Gendt open to continuing career in Asia following 2024 retirement Zipp releases photos debunking hookless rim failure after De Gendt crash “After the stage I saw the damage and it was not just damage from hitting the road it was really damaged from hitting something some parts [of the wheel] are a bit missing But it’s not like that the tyre came off by itself “Their investigation said it was something on the road that I hit and that made the wheel not really collapse but get damaged enough hard enough to make the tyre go off.” De Gendt confirmed that he was going to continue using the tyres we’ve used them for the last three years and we’ve never had issues,” he said “It’s the first time I’ve had something like this you don’t have ride 10 kilometres with it because the tyre will go off “But we are also sure that they won’t put anything on the market that is unsafe So this is probably just a one-time failure because of the big force that made the rim just explode.” De Gendt also pointed out that there had been similar events in the past although the UAE crash was far more widely publicised “Sometimes it happens if you jump on the pavement and you hit the edge your wheel explodes and you also crash and you also get the tyre off even if you had tubular wheels it would still have come off because of the big force of hitting something.” Now in his final season as a professional the 37-year-old is concentrating on taking one last stage in the Volta a Catalunya which he already named pre-season as one of his big targets of the year Catalunya has always been something of a special race for De Gendt more than any other WorldTour event for the Belgian “I don’t know how the condition is after Oman and UAE I lost a lot of my condition because the racing there is so easy,” De Gendt told Cyclingnews at the start of stage 1 “But I could do a few one-day races in Belgium and my training But this is my first real race where I have to climb a lot so I don’t know how it will go.” De Gendt is back in Catalunya after missing out on the race last season Although this year’s route has been cited by some riders as exceptionally tough “They take away one summit finish at La Molina although we do the climb [on stage 3] and they add in another There are three stages that could end in a kind of sprint and the rest is for the GC guys De Gendt says “It’s not a typical one-week race where there are three clear bunch sprint stages with a lot of good sprinters there aren’t so many sprinters here either in this race either but it’s so hilly I don’t think we’ll get to the finish with more than 60 guys,” De Gendt said “And also the other GC teams will look to UAE to control things and may they’ll say we’ll see what happens on the summit finish “This kind of racing suits me very well so I’ve always got a big chance of winning a stage And half the time I was successful.” De Gendt aims to return to south of the Pyrenees later in the year for more racing in what will be his last Grand Tour of his career although for now he’s cautious about whether he will definitively make the team line-up it’s always difficult to be in the selection - the Tour de France line-up is kind of already made up Our best guys for that race will go there,” he said “Then we have other guys for the Vuelta and I’d like to be there to support him Then the days where he has a more relaxing day I’d like to be in the break and try to win a second stage there.” Belgian will ride from Belgium to Spain to prepare for Vuelta a España The veteran, who has raced nine Tours de France, recently rode the Critérium du Dauphiné and told his Lotto-Dstny team that he doesn't feel ready to take on the Tour next month he'll ride from Semmerzake to Calpe as he prepares to race the ninth Vuelta of his career Speaking to Sporza after the conclusion of the Dauphiné Lotto directeur sportif Kurt Van de Wouwer said that De Gendt informed him of the decision on Sunday evening after leaving the race "It's a logical consequence of everything Thomas has already encountered this season De Gendt has two Tour de France stage wins and a spell in the polka dot jersey on his palmarès but he's not set to add to those achievements this July heading south from Flanders towards the popular winter training location of Calpe in southeast Spain Writing on Twitter on Monday Feel free to join in." The big trip will see him work towards the Vuelta where he won a stage to Gijón in 2017 and won the mountain classification a year later It's an unconventional way to prepare for a Grand Tour but his team trust a rider who has started 23 of them to get into shape ahead of another three-week test "He is now aiming for the Vuelta," said Van de Wouwer knows well enough what he needs to do to be ready for the Vuelta The Dauphiné was his first race since the Boucles de Mayenne at the end of May De Gendt made the break on stage 5 to Salins-les-Bains before the move was caught on the final climb of the day 17km out He was joined at the race by teammate Victor Campenaerts who was in action for the first time since fracturing a vertebra at the Bredene Koksijde Classic back in mid-March The former Hour Record holder wore the polka dot mountains jersey on stage 7 before losing it to stage 8 breakaway and winner Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) and he'll have a chance of making the team's Tour de France squad it's always a question of how far away he is But it is clear that he is ahead of his original schedule But I won't make any statements about the [Tour] selection right now Next Monday we will sit together and make the decisions." Belgian rider Thomas De Gendt is one of cycling’s unsung heroes A tireless team worker for Lotto-Soudal sprinter André Greipel a quality that has won him prestigious mountain stages in both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France And next week he will be one of the team leaders at the historic Paris–Nice race a race where he scored his first major professional win back in 2011 and how much time you think you need at a certain point in the race to stay away I knew we needed about one minute 20 seconds on the last climb my older brother got into it first and he got me interested you could only start racing in Belgium at the age of 12 and in Holland I could start racing already at 10 I got into a sport-study school that gave me time to go training in the afternoons We have that in Belgium and a lot of people that want to train seriously at a young age can get into such a program I started the Giro that year at 67 kilos and probably got down to 65 [143 pounds] by the end of the race But that winter I went up to 78 kilos [171 pounds] and I never got below 69 any more What’s it like to be an American cyclist living in France Watch to get professional road cyclist Joe Dombrowski’s view 'The day has to come when the young riders are better but they have done it very suddenly' though the Belgian has said that this year has been a different experience for him in comparison with previous editions as his best efforts have so far have brought meagre rewards The Belgian, who won stages from the break in both 2016 and 2019 having only been part of a brief 30-kilometre move towards the start of stage 6 to Châteauroux during the opening nine days of the race Speaking before the start of Sunday's mountain stage to Tignes De Gendt said that he feels the level in the peloton is much higher than it was previously He has so far been unable to make his mark on the race despite the power numbers he has been putting down I was 100 metres behind in a group of 70 riders – and I started from the front row When you're not in the peloton after that it's clear that the general level is just much higher." De Gendt said that during stage 8 – which saw Tadej Pogačar blow the Tour's GC race apart after putting 3:20 into his rivals with a 32-kilometre solo attack – he had put out the kind of watts he'd normally see in a breakaway move rather than battling with the protagonists of the break finishing 28 minutes down on his compatriot A 'changing of the guard' comes to every generation of sportsperson but the 34-year-old said that he didn't expect one to come about so suddenly and not while he is still putting out career-high power numbers "I pushed my numbers in the breakaway only I finished 28 minutes down But I feel as tired as I do after I've been in a breakaway," he said the day has to come when the young riders are better Normally it's gradual but now they have suddenly taken over everything and push the older ones to the back but if it's not there then it's not there." De Gendt, whose top result in 2021 saw him get the beating of Tour stage winner Matej Mohorič to win the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya added that he's considering ending his career when his current contract finishes if the outlook doesn't change and then it's time for something else," he said I'm 34 now and will be 36 at the end of my contract I won't suddenly improve another five per cent unless I engage in 'wrong things' This year I already had one super day and then I won a stage at the Volta a Catalunya De Gendt sent the following message to Sporza podcast De Tribune "I don't think that doping is circulating on a small or large scale I won't put my hand in the fire for anyone The general level has just been very high since after lockdown and the level it is now is too high for me." Belgian considers retirement in 2022 after testing year Thomas De Gendt has said that he thinks 2022 will be his final year in the peloton with the Belgian set to potentially end a 14-year career on the bike next year "At the moment it is in my head that 2022 will be my last year," De Gendt said in an interview with the Belgian newspaper "If things suddenly improve next year or in another role – a road captain or domestique instead of attacker or protected rider – I can return to that and continue one or two years with a different attitude like guiding young riders and calming them down when needed." De Gendt, who is currently racing the Benelux Tour said during the Tour that the level of racing was much higher than he was used to noting that he was struggling to keep up despite putting out record power number numbers In the final days of the race he said that the 2021 edition – his ninth appearance – could be his last Tour and reiterated that point to Het Nieuwsblad "During the Tour I already said that I would rather not return," he said If it is with big expectations like recent years I'm no longer good enough to win a stage and then I start to get nervous and think I can't keep up I would better go on a training camp in July or ride smaller races "I have ridden the Tour nine times and reached Paris nine times It is not that I suddenly have a bad feeling about the Tour A tenth participation will not make much difference." He said that riding his bike more casually while on holiday in Spain led him to rediscover his enthusiasm for riding I had a bit too much negativity around me during the busiest racing month of the year Then I went to Spain for more of a holiday than a training camp but I didn't feel like training in a structured way I rode when I felt like it and for as long as I felt like "This winter I want to leave the bike in the garage for a month I felt like I had to restart too soon this year Then the succession of Grand Tours last year and this year was too much." De Gendt, who this year has one win to his name at the Volta a Catalunya noted that racing at smaller races in August – the Brussels Cycling Classic and Tour of Norway – after opting against heading to the Vuelta a España brought less pressure as well as a liberating feeling due to the lower level of competition When I see how hard they're racing there and how high the level is I had it even more in my mind that I couldn't compete "Brussels and Norway [were] races without pressures – fewer competitors Since 2016 I've almost only ridden WorldTour races where you always have to compete against the best riders "It's very difficult to race for a prize and have a good feeling about it In Norway I was among the best 15 riders on every climb and I was pushing the same wattages as in the Tour De Gendt accelerated past Davide Gabburo and Jorge Arcas with 200m to go on the seafront in Napoli to get his reward for splitting up the break and carrying clear a four-man group which also included his Lotto-Soudal teammate Harm Vanhoucke. Read moreCofidis’ Martin followed the pre-stage favourites Mathieu van der Poel and Biniam Girmay 33 seconds down three minutes ahead of the chasing peloton to move up from 14th in the general classification to fourth now 66 seconds behind Trek-Segafredo’s Juan Pedro Lopez who held on to pink going into Sunday’s stage on Blockhaus punchy 153km circuit around Napoli was always expected to produce attacking racing and Van der Poel and Girmay were quick to get themselves in the early breakaway Stage one winner Van der Poel tried to go solo with 46km still to go but De Gendt led a counter which successfully got clear and would stay away despite a furious attempt from Van der Poel and Girmay to get back inside the last 10km “Mathieu attacked on the steep part on the second to last lap and went really hard but we made it back and made an attack,” De Gendt said “We knew everyone would look to Van der Poel and Girmay to close the gap so we took the advantage and they stayed at 30 seconds back “I was working for Harm to attack on the last climb but he said he did not have good legs so I said to him ‘Ride to the last 3km and I’m sure I will win the sprint’ and he did it perfectly I’m happy we could pull this off as a team.” Lopez’s Trek-Segafredo did their best to control the gap to the peloton given Martin’s presence and just did enough to keep him in pink before Sunday’s stage when a major shake-up to the general classification is expected Britain’s Simon Yates is the best placed of the main favourites ShowDownload the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.If you already have the Guardian app make sure you’re on the most recent version.In the Guardian app then Notifications.Turn on sport notifications.Was this helpful?Thank you for your feedback.This was De Gendt’s second career Giro stage 10 years after he took his first on very different terrain on the Stelvio “If you had asked me two weeks ago if I would be able to win a stage in the Giro I would say no Hookless rims have been a topic of much debate in recent years Manufacturers of carbon rims are increasingly adopting hookless rims citing performance benefits such as lower weight improved aerodynamics and reduced manufacturing complexity (and therefore lower production costs) Thomas De Gendt suffered a high-speed crash while – seemingly – just riding along Following the incident, De Gendt’s bike was photographed standing by the side of the road, the tyre detached from the rim, tubeless sealant everywhere and a broken Vittoria Air-Liner tubeless insert tangled in the fork Whether this was a cause or consequence of the crash remains unclear, but many have already pointed the finger of blame at De Gendt’s wheels, a set of Zipp’s 353 NSW carbon wheels with hookless rims hookless rims are tubeless-ready rims that lack bead hooks – the protruding edges on the inside of a rim that help retain a clincher or tubeless tyre bead De Gendt was able to continue racing largely unscathed the incident raises a few questions as to what happened – and what it may mean for wheel and tyre tech Since this article was published, Vittoria has released a statement seeking to clarify details of De Gendt’s crash According to the Italian tyre manufacturer the failure was a result of De Gendt’s front wheel impacting a rock and breaking the rim “unrelated” to the fact De Gendt was using hookless rims Vittoria’s statement also sought to reaffirm the compatibility of its 700 x 28c Corsa Pro TLR with hookless rims saying it underwent extensive testing during development Speaking to Velo in the aftermath Hansen was unequivocal on what had caused the crash the safety foam inside got caught in the fork and that locks up the front wheel” The next day, Hansen posted a link to the Velo article on X/Twitter The @cpacycling is not happy with riders racing on Hookless system in the peloton There have been concerns from riders and teams with this new system.“ Dan Bigham a performance engineer at Team Ineos-Grenadiers (and former UCI World Hour Record holder) adding “History will not be kind to road hookless” “I would like to know what I hit with my front wheel” on X/Twitter and asking whether anyone had images or footage of the incident Could hookless rims be unsafe for use in professional road racing or might there be more to this story than meets the eye Though Hansen was definitive about the reason for De Gendt’s crash it’s not totally clear what caused the incident The grainy video footage available appears to show De Gendt’s front tyre detaching from the rim during the crash but it’s not clear whether he hit an obstacle or suffered a puncture prior to crashing We do know De Gendt was using 700 x 28c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres on a set of Zipp 353 NSW wheels We also know De Gendt’s teammates were using similar with Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres on Zipp hookless rims whether De Gendt suffered a sudden puncture in the moments leading up to the crash that caused a rapid loss of air pressure The tubeless insert is supposed to help keep a tyre attached to the rim in these scenarios but it’s possible there was failure with that piece of kit too we don’t have details of De Gendt’s tyre pressures Both Zipp and Vittoria stipulate a maximum tyre pressure of 72.5psi / 5 BAR when using hookless rims Is it possible De Gendt was running tyre pressures over this limit Given his bike would have been assembled by highly experienced professional mechanics, it seems unlikely, but of course, it’s not possible to rule this out (perhaps the gauge on their track pump or air compressor is out of spec Could De Gendt’s tyre have been inflated to close to the maximum pressure in the morning (when it may have been cooler) and then been tipped over as the day heated up while it was clearly warm that day (all of the riders were wearing summer cycling kit) reports from the race don’t mention any kind of extreme heat Perhaps more likely is De Gendt hit an obstacle which caused a sudden spike in tyre pressure and a catastrophic blow-off we simply don’t yet know exactly what caused this incident It’s also possible this was just a freak incident caused by a failure somewhere in the rim None of De Gendt’s teammates suffered similar issues that day One of the key concerns surrounding hookless rims in recent years has been regarding tyre compatibility it’s natural to ask whether De Gendt could have been using an unsafe or unapproved rim and tyre combination perhaps in pursuit of improved performance For its part, though, De Gendt’s team, Lotto Dstny, told Cyclingnews its rim and tyre combinations are “100 per cent in the rules” and that it follows all guidelines on this topic from the UCI and its wheel and tyre sponsors Indeed, Zipp specifically lists the 700 x 28c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR as compatible with its 353 NSW rims, on its Hookless Road Tyre Compatibility Guide If they haven’t exceeded the maximum permitted tyre pressure it looks as though De Gendt and his team have done nothing wrong in this instance the issue becomes complicated by the latest ETRTO and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards for hookless rims These guidelines state the minimum nominal tyre size for a 25mm internal width rim is now 29mm Hunt, for example, notes it capped the internal width of its latest SUB50 Limitless wheelset – which uses hookless rims – at 23mm in order to adhere to these updated standards Vittoria says its Corsa Pro TLR tyre is approved for use on hookless rims in a size 28c or larger but doesn’t offer any guidelines as to internal rim widths on its website Zipp maintains its 25mm-wide rims are fine to use with 28c tyres Speaking to Cyclingnews last year Zipp said: “We know there have been enough wheelsets ridden in the past several years with the 28c tires on 25mm rims to prove that the combination is safe and delivers many proven performance benefits.” there are conflicting opinions on this topic how many consumers regularly check the latest ETRTO or ISO standards but this is a case of exceeding the margin for error In response to another user on X/Twitter “It’s fine if you use wheels and tyres with the current ETRTO standard…” Bigham said: “I don’t consider factors of safety as low as 1.1 as 'fine'.” A ‘factor of safety’ typically describes the strength of a system in relation to its intended use or load Though it's not clear exactly what Bigham is referring to a safety factor of 1.1 relating to the maximum permitted tyre pressure on a hookless rim would equate to 79.75psi / 5.5 BAR (1.1 x 72.5psi / 5 BAR) This gives the rider a margin of error of 7.25psi / 0.5 BAR De Gendt’s setup appears to sit in some sort of grey area – approved by the manufacturer of his wheels and tyres Does the crux of this issue lie in the lack of – or an insufficient – margin for error without further clarification of the incident itself and De Gendt’s specific setup Perhaps it was on the limit of what’s technically safe and a freak incident pushed things far enough over the limit to cause a failure and resulting crash Would wider margins of error have prevented this incident but without a clear understanding of what caused this incident it feels impossible to say for sure This isn’t the first time we’ve seen issues with tubeless tyres in the professional peloton Last year’s edition of Paris-Roubaix also saw a number of riders suffer tubeless failures with tyres dismounting from rims bicycle tyres dismounting from rims in professional road racing isn’t anything new Proponents of tubular tyre systems often tout the ability of a tub to stay attached to the rim in the event of a puncture (because the tyre is glued onto the rim) but I’m old enough to remember riders who had tubular tyres roll off their rims after the glue failed during hot races I’m even old enough to remember being too afraid to use tubular tape instead of glue Likewise, clincher tyres and rims paired with inner tubes – which some WorldTour teams are still using – also won’t remain securely attached in the event of a puncture Hooked rims alone are clearly not the solution If riders aren’t using tubeless inserts – and there’s no UCI rule stipulating they must be used with tubeless tyres – then a hooked rim won’t help keep a flat tubeless tyre on a rim any better than with a clincher one One of the riders who suffered a tyre blow-off in the Arenberg trench at last year’s Roubaix was a Team Bahrain Victorious rider running Vision Metron wheels Perhaps the best solution is hooked tubeless rims with tubeless tyres and inserts with two potential failsafes against blow-offs told BikeRadar it doesn’t produce hookless road rims because it believes hooked rims are safer especially since it doesn’t make tyres and it can’t control the decisions consumers make Life was certainly simpler before the advent of hookless rims as the thorny issue of tyre and rim compatibility reared its head many here at BikeRadar (myself included) have ridden – and continue to ride – hookless rims and tubeless tyres without such issues when my colleague Warren Rossiter tested the Zipp 353 NSW wheels in late 2021 he paired them with a set of 28c tyres and suffered no problems or maybe Warren was just lucky not to suffer any incidents that pushed the limits of that combination While significant progress has been made on improving compatibility and standards in this area clearly there are grey areas and uncertainty remains Having a situation where a major wheel manufacturer (Zipp provide conflicting information on compatibility to consumers is clearly not ideal either The responsibility ultimately lies with the cycling industry to reach a consensus about what is and isn’t safe I’ve written about this topic at length in the past – in my long-term review of a Giant TCR Advanced Pro 2 Disc for example – and as I’ve commented before the benefits of hookless rims may be obvious to manufacturers but the benefits for riders are far less so As with the recent Shimano crankset recall riders – professional or otherwise – are being left in the dark as to whether the equipment they own (or are considering purchasing) is safe to use and are faced with confusing information regarding compatibility and best practice Unless the cycling industry can get a firmer grip on this issue the hookless compatibility story looks set to rumble on for the foreseeable future Become a member here We use cookies to improve your browsing experience captain of the break and seldom far from the front of the race Thomas De Gendt strolls into the bar at his team’s cheap and cheerful Paris-Nice hotel on the outskirts of Antibes like he hasn’t spent the whole day in the break a passing observer might struggle to tell which of us is deep into one of the most demanding stage races on the calendar and which has merely schlepped a foolish three miles out of town from the train station Despite dominating the competition for the polka-dot jersey it has been an uneventful day at the races for a rider who is I’ve come to this conclusion in the course of my preparation for our interview which has largely consisted of researching riders in an effort to find one with a similar palmarès there are plenty of so-called “stage hunters” out there but they usually have just a couple of big wins to their name from an entire career’s worth of speculating De Gendt is prepared to admit that what he does is rare but offers CCC Team racer Alessandro De Marchi with whom he often finds himself in the break agreeing that the Italian is a reliable rouleur Thomas De Gendt wins stage 19 of the 2017 Vuelta a España is nothing like that of the man in front of me The Italian has three Vuelta stage wins to his name but the top results section of his Pro Cycling Stats page needs minor placings to fill it That collection includes victories in all three Grand Tours and all but a few of the most prestigious multi-day events “The last two years it’s become a goal to win in stage races where I haven’t won yet,” he says “I hadn’t won in the Vuelta so I tried to do the Vuelta to get the three Grand Tour wins and then I wanted to win in the Basque Country and Romandie and I only got Romandie so it’s still Basque Country that I have to win.” It sounds as if he’s playing palmarès Pokémon How many riders have that much freedom to decide where the biggest of Thomas De Gendt’s big wins is his 2016 Tour de France stage how about if I tell you it was the day that Chris Froome went for a run not stand out strongly in the memory of the average cycling fan I’m nonetheless surprised when he says it’s not the one that means the most to him He doesn’t see it as a true Ventoux victory Strong winds at the summit had forced the organisers to bring the finish line ten kilometres down the fabled mountain to Chalet Reynard De Gendt leads the break before going solo on Mont Ventoux in 2016 It’s still a long climb but it wasn’t on the top so I don’t have the picture of me with my hands [in the air] on the top It’s still a nice victory but it’s not Mont Ventoux.” Instead De Gendt’s proudest result is the one responsible for the only interruption to his remarkable record of stage wins: an (arguably accidental) third place overall at the 2012 Giro d’Italia That result came about largely thanks to a victory atop the Stelvio on the penultimate stage of that year’s race It made him the first Belgian on the podium in a Grand Tour since Johan Bruyneel’s third place at the 1995 Vuelta De Gendt’s stage race success has drawn pressure from domestic media to try his hand at the home races but he’s really not interested: “When you do a Classic If you are bad then you have lost that opportunity If you have a bad day during a stage race there’s always tomorrow in what will surely be viewed as blasphemy back home: “I don’t really care about Tour of Flanders.” He knows that his talent is getting into breaks that go the distance and he’s happy to keep doing that De Gendt denies that he has a sixth sense for stages that will lend themselves to a successful escape: “In the Tour there are always three or four stages that almost all the riders know are breakaway stages No sprinter will survive and the GC guys won’t want to go for the victory.” Those are Aside from his sheer strength on the bike the most interesting explanation seems to be his ability to get a group to cooperate “Until the final [kilometres] my main goal is to help the breakaway as far as possible,” the 32-year-old says Once the final starts then I will look at what I have to do to try and win.” How many times have we seen groups fall apart for a lack of cohesion with one rider or another sitting on instead of taking their turn to pull That almost never happens when De Gendt is present He commands such respect from his peers that the way he describes it his role sounds close to that of the break’s road captain That idea seems to appeal to him: “A lot of guys what are we going to do?’ I don’t have to say anything I don’t have to force them into a tactic.” Read: The lady in yellow who rides at the front of the Tour de France One advantageous attribute in his possession relates to a “fact” that I cannot confirm but which feels right: that De Gendt spends more time on our screens during races than any other rider For if he’s not out of sight of the peloton It’s a vital role that he plays on sprint stages before gradually reeling it in for the catch and handing over to the Lotto-Soudal sprint train It makes those days when he’s off the front all the more impressive because he hasn’t been hiding in the pack He responds with a shrug when I point this out: “I don’t like to waste races.” This dual role has given him a rare insight into how the bunch “thinks” and means he’s able to direct the break accordingly From the comfort of the couch it’s easy to assume that the breakaway is working furiously all day “I try to adjust the speed of the breakaway to when I think the chase will start “You don’t have to push hard [early on] because the bunch doesn’t want to catch you anyway,” he says That’s when his advice to his colleagues is to “save a bit of strength Later on it becomes about tactics and trickery “I think sometimes the bunch doesn’t expect us to go that hard on a climb Or they start to chase and they expect the gap to come down Suddenly after the climb they see that the gap has gone up by one minute and a lot of guys start chasing harder and they get into the red zone There are also a few points when the break can take “free seconds” – the feed zone and at the top of climbs “because the bunch will go harder uphill but ease off at the top.” “It’s fun if it all works out,” he replies This article was originally published in Rouleur 19.4 The post Thomas De Gendt: Stage hunter appeared first on The world's finest cycling magazine fearsome mountain passes and a Balkan Grande Partenza Rouleur takes a look at the contenders to win the Maglia Rosa in Italy this month Alexander Vinokourov's team are making the impossible rather quite possible All the essential information about the first Grand Tour of the year While the former Olympic and World champion is relishing new ventures in retirement she is keen to ensure more support is in place for those.. Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines Join today for exclusive content from independent journalists This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply The Belgian rider reveals his tips for breakaways “Jens Voigt 2.0” is high praise for any cyclist. Through his daring breakaways and memorable victories on the biggest stages of the sport, Thomas De Gendt has certainly earned that comparison from Bobby & Jens co-host Bobby Julich He’s one of the strongest riders in the peloton of the last decade But even the best can overdo things from time to time Thomas talks overtraining since the truncated and delayed 2020 season restarted — 135 race days including four grand tours in 13 months will take its toll on even the best riders in the world — and recalibrating for 2022 While many things about Thomas’s schedule next season are still up in the air, including the Lotto-Soudal team’s entire Tour de France roster we can predict with some certainty that there will be some breakaways from the Belgian rider Thomas gave his expert insights into the tactics of a breakaway It’s more than just going as hard as you can for as long as you can — although that’s important too Find out what goes through his head during a breakaway and learn the small tweaks he makes to his preparation for days when he knows he’s going all in there’s another famed breakaway specialist on the show in co-host Jens Voigt who provides even more insight into the conversation And Thomas is a little bit unusual amongst breakaway specialists because he once contested GC finishing on the podium at the Giro d’Italia in 2012 Find out about the different chapters of his career and why he changed his focus The conversation also turned to the latest generation of pros and what could be making them such strong racers early in their careers they come to the pro peloton and they are a bit starstruck and they see us and they have respect,” he said they just attack you and they leave you behind and they win the races.” Listen to the latest episode of Bobby & Jens for the full conversation Bobby & Jens is a weekly VeloNews podcast brought to you by Zwift It stars former pros Bobby Julich and Jens Voigt and features conversations with top athletes and other newsmakers from the wide world of cycling Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts Send your questions to BobbyandJens@VeloNews.com or Tweet @bobbyandjens Belgian in a race within a race on the road to Camigliatello Silano If entering the morning breakaway is a gamble then De Gendt is the guy who gets turfed out of a casino on suspicion of counting cards When his speculative attack with Peter Sagan was promptly snuffed out he weighed up the odds and tapped out of trying to infiltrate the early break he preferred to stake his day on attempting to bridge across on the final climb De Gendt succeeded in the first part of his bet attacking from the gruppo and catching the remnants of the break with 19km remaining albeit with Rubio glued tightly to his wheel the Colombian could justifiably plead that he had Movistar teammate Hector Carretero up the road but De Gendt admitted to annoyance that no greater collaboration was forthcoming once they reached the front of the race he had a teammate up front so I could understand that he still didn’t want to do any of the work,” De Gendt told reporters after the finish so I made it my goal not to let him win.” his Giro podium finish and his treasury of experience is not the kind of enemy a neo-professional can really afford to make who placed second overall at last year’s under-23 Giro With five kilometres of the climb remaining Ganna was the only member the day’s early move who had managed to stay with De Gendt and Rubio who were now beginning to show their respective hands They traded accelerations but their tight marking allowed Ganna to stay in contact on each occasion When the Italian went all in shortly afterwards De Gendt and Rubio opted to call one another’s bluff Neither man gave chase and Ganna – the weakest climber of the trio on paper – suddenly had the freedom of the mountainside He disappeared into the mist atop the Montescuro which lived up to its name on a gloomy day that hinted at the conditions still ahead in this novel Autumn Giro “I think I had the legs to beat Ganna but I had somebody on my wheel who didn’t want to do any of the work to close the gap,” De Gendt said “Ganna was dropped two times when Rubio attacked and I attacked but he [Rubio] still didn’t want to work I just felt it was not my time to close the attack I was just waiting for Rubio and he just did not do anything it’s ok if Ganna wins – just Rubio couldn’t win today.” Ganna quickly stretched out his lead – “With Ganna’s weight on this climb but the last 3 or 4km were not that steep anymore,” said De Gendt – while his erstwhile companions continued to eye one another eventually being caught and passed by the maglia rosa group on the approach to the summit It was put to De Gendt that Rubio had been reluctant to collaborate on the climb because he feared the veteran might then distance him on the rain-slicked descent to the finish who eventually rolled in 44th at 5:51 on the stage “I’m not good downhill: if he had made it to the top with just the two of us then he would have dropped me on the downhill without doing any work and that wouldn’t be fair,” De Gendt said “I preferred Ganna to win rather than Rubio that’s just how cycling works.” Thomas De Gendt is known as one of the strongest and most aggressive riders in the WorldTour and his cycling talents helping him win or dominate in minor Grand Tour classifications from breakaways in an intimate autobiography the Belgian rider has revealed a far more personal and intimate side revealing he suffered with a moment of depression in 2017 and thought about retiring during the COVID-19 lockdown this spring The autobiography is called ‘Solo’ reflecting De Gendt’s love for attacking in races “People know me as someone who is pleasant and fun That’s how the book became very personal I honestly wonder how people will react to it,” De Gendt told Sporza after presenting the book to the Belgian media "I pulled out all my wife's folders with newspaper clippings from my childhood to now and with every article I remembered a story It was quite surprising how many stories and anecdotes came up again It was nice to go through everything and to recall those memories.” De Gendt recalls his biggest and best victories in the book but also reveals his difficult moments especially the start of the 2017 season when "a dark spot in my head that kept getting bigger" first of all my marriage," De Gendt admitted to Het Nieuwsblad.  De Gendt describes how in the summer of 2016 he "started to feel like an intruder in his own home" He felt out of place with his wife Evelyn and their children Amber and Timo You can make video calls as much as you want but there are still so many things that you miss During that time I felt like an intruder in my own home I think a lot of riders recognize that," De Gendt revealed I had to adapt to my family and them to me In the end I was happy if I could leave: I ran away to the races." De Gendt's mental problems emerged during a training camp in Calpe in 2017 "I went down the stairs to get my bike out of the garage but I collapsed at the bottom of the stairs I sat down and cried like a little child for half an hour but I don't remember anything about that ride I was riding as if in a blur," De Gendt said in his book "I really had the urge to escape," he revealed his personal problems drove him to go on the attack more in races And not the problems in your head," he said "That year in the Tour that I was there so often in that position everyone thought and that was true but it also showed how badly I was mentally." including a stage at the Vuelta a España but they were short moments of escape "You feel the euphoria for a moment but it's not profound happiness I was good at keeping up a facade," he said "I could be normal and funny but it wasn't like that at all People who are really depressed often don't see it De Gendt did not seek professional help but gradually recovered He realised that his marital troubles were a result of his poor mental health rather than the other way around "Something clicked and I began to work on it To see the positive again and to fight for our marriage which we had not done for a while," he revealed "The coronavirus period has been a positive experience for us and we went through it very well together I talked for a long time with Evelyn whether we should put what happened in my book But precisely because those problems are no longer there De Gendt was able to train outdoors in Belgium during the spring when races were suspended he came so used to spending time at home with his family "It was like my life will be when I stop racing," he admitted "I didn't miss the racing in itself but being on the road with my teammates and the objectives that go with it I was also at the end of the contract and the talks with the team were difficult De Gendt will be 34 in November and his doubts arose as Lotto Soudal delayed contract renewals after furloughing some staff He eventually returned to racing at the Tour de Pologne and went on to ride both the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia going on the attack and entertaining fans with his social media posts His best result was third on the stage to Madonna di Campiglio at the Giro d'Italia At one point he revealed he did not feel safe at the Giro d'Italia after a number of COVID-19 cases emerged He later backtracked and apologised for his comments "I've since extended my contract and the desire to race has also returned," he said of his temptation to retire "I will therefore be racing with full enthusiasm for at least another two years although I do feel that the deterioration is starting but I feel good about it." He turned professional back in 2006 and then raced for Topsport Flanders and Vacansoleil - DCM before joining Lotto in 2015 De Gendt revealed he was given a cortisone injection in 2009 as treatment for an injury the drug making him feel he "could kick my pedals off." However when asked he was clean replied bluntly:  "Yes De Gendt first made his name as a breakaway expert in 2012 when he won the stage to the summit of the Stelvio at the Giro d'Italia adding two stages at the Tour de France and one at the Vuelta a España He is both revered and feared by other riders who join him on the attack He has his own 'box of tricks' to give him a better chance of victory "Mentally you can push other riders in a direction by trying to play them," he told Sporza "In an attack it sometimes depends purely on how you feel or sometimes you have to stick to the mathematics on your power meter There are also the tricks of the breakaway I sometimes pretend I can't go on anymore," he writes in his book in an extract published by Sporza "Sometimes it's just the opposite: if I don't feel 100 per cent I sometimes pretend to be better than I am even if I'm at my limit or even over my limit "Having the mental upper hand is often worth a lot." Following on from a recent series of statements from involved parties in the wake of Thomas de Gendt's tyre blowout at the UAE Tour The UCI, however, was not satisfied with the explanation and has since stated that it is investigating the matter with urgency.  Zipp has joined the fray and is sticking to the same line of reasoning as Vittoria and importantly one that would exceed the limits of any rim and tyre combination.  Vittoria officially blames rock not hookless rims for De Gendt's UAE Tour crash '100% within the rules' - Lotto-Dstny defend tyre system despite De Gendt blowout UCI issues statement on 'urgent' hookless tyre debate Zipp supported Vittoria and De Gendt's assessment that impact rather than compatibility was to blame for the equipment failure "With respect to the incident involving Thomas de Gendt Lotto/Dstny team management has confirmed the rider hit an object in the road," the statement said.  "Our team is treating the situation with the utmost urgency It was their assessment that the nature of the impact would have caused severe damage to the tire and rim regardless of the rim design Images circulating online indicate damage consistent with a severe frontal impact," it continued He’s tried his hand at most cycling disciplines to the more unusual like bike polo and tracklocross covered tech news from the biggest races on the planet and published countless premium galleries thanks to his excellent photographic eye given he doesn’t ever ride indoors he’s become a real expert on foul-weather riding gear His collection of bikes is a real smorgasbord with everything from vintage-style steel tourers through to superlight flat bar hill climb machines BMX World Champion is on his way to Tokyo 2020 right now with a prototype 2-speed BMX bike that is sure to shake up the Olympics geared hardtail with a Zee DH rear derailleur yeah that’s not what usually comes to mind when I think BMX racing But I’m certainly not one to judge the World Champion and cyclist Twan van Gendt surely knows what he’s doing having refined his Olympic start in his backyard in The Netherlands for the last nine months on a Tokyo-replica start ramp… So let’s first get this out of the way… apparently yes, gears are UCI legal for BMX.  “Multiple speed gear systems are permitted” according to UCI Part VI BMX regulations Section 4 and so should be the chain guide as long as it’s not “superfluous” The trick seems likely to be the unique start and opening straight of the Tokyo 2020 BMX track this Olympic BMX track is described as having three more flowing jumps in the opening stretch designed to be more egalitarian for both men & women athletes And explaining that 80% of BMX races are decided before the first corner” “I have to make the difference at the start” It’s so important that Red Bull and the rest of Twan van Gendt’s support team built a replica of the start at his local BMX club just 10 minutes from his home in The Netherlands so he could dial in the perfect start Head to RedBull for the full story, and the 18minute All or Nothing documentary on van Gendt’s Olympic prep this geared BMX bike wasn’t built on a whim Twan van Gendt is convinced that the perfect gearing for the first straight is NOT the perfect gear for the rest of the track so he’s built the first 2-speed BMX race bike we’ve seen in several decades to go faster Van Gendt’s Olympic hopeful ride is an all-new Meybo HSX Carbon BMX frame that was created to be ultra-stiff (30% stiffer than its alloy predecessor) and super-fast His drivetrain consists of two rear cogs moved by an ultra-short cage Shimano Zee M640 rear derailleur and shifted by what appears to be a Zee 2-Way release shifter mounted upside down on the top He’s likely only going to need to hit one shift in the race so the ergonomics should be easy to manage We’re not 100% sure on his individual gearing choice but it looks like a combination of 14T & 16T cogs out back Up front is a single narrow-wide 48T chainring on a Shimano DXR BMX crankset with an XLC CR-A18 chainguide mounted backward off the tiny BMX seattube to keep the chain aligned behind that massive ring The new 2022 Meybo HSX Carbon frame itself features standards we’ll recognize from MTB like a 1.5″ tapered internal headset Conventional singlespeed BMX drivetrains use an integrated Meybo chain tensioner which obviously van Gendt has replaced with a derailleur It includes internal routing for the rear brake line but not for the unconventional derailleur cable is whether the unique 2-speed BMX drivetrain will give Twan van Gendt the edge he needs to repeat his World Championship win on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic BMX track MeyboBikes.com Tune in to the Ariake Urban Sports Park racing action which kicks off with Quarterfinals on July 29th Check out our full Olympic BMX feature to learn more about the racing (and new BMX Freestyle) and to stay up-to-date on how & when to watch Olympic BMX Cory Benson is the EU Tech Editor of Bikerumor.com Cory has been writing about mountain bikes gravel bikes & bikepacking for over 25 years even before the industry created some of these names Cory was a practicing Architect specializing in environmental sustainability has designed bike shops & bike components Cory travels extensively across Europe riding bikes meeting with key European product developers industry experts & tastemakers for an in-depth review of what’s new Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed I guess he only needs to shift if once during the race It is also funny to see a seat on a bike that will never get used Its one of those better to have and not need situations..unless of course you’re into that sort of thing…;) I know various attempts have been made at 2spd systems in the past The bmx fb group I saw this on first was was crying out that it should be banned and that it would be the end of bmx if it were normalized In the mid to late 80’s I had a browning 2 speed setup that didn’t go over well because the gear ratios we’re fixed You couldn’t change the front 2 sprockets had to change freewheel sizes Wow man i raced in the early 80s on the 7th boss frame ever made It was low and thin i used dura ace cranks shimano dx peaks cooks bros bottom bracket doublebutted araya time with philwood hubs boss forks redline gooseneck and vbarssshimano breakis wutj msthauser brake pads When competitors from some countries have replica tracks made for them…You can hardly call the Olympics fair some have just the first straight and some have the whole thing A bmx track isn’t that expensive to build especially if it only needs to last a year or so Why didn’t he use the Classified system still a single chain for simplicity and chainline you’ll be surprised at how efficient it is 😉 Most likely because the Classified system is designed with road and gravel bikes in mind and freehub is not compatible with BMX bikes like the Meybo which appears to use a 120mm spaced hub with a 15mm thru axle The bike above technically has a cassette body capable of running multiple gears but they’re usually much shorter – just wide enough to run a few individual SS cogs with some spacers Looks like this is two very closely spaced gears (14 & 16T cogs?) while the Classified system has a substantial jump between ratios Surprised nobody else had mentioned this already they had the Aftershock too with suspension I really want to know why they didn’t use a front shifter You can get a front shifter to work a single rear shift if you want Using a front shifter would still requires a chain tensioner which the derailleur already takes care of Multi-speed BMX bikes have been around for ages and there are quite a few examples during the last 2 decades…heck my daughter ran a 2-speed for specific races And Huffy did this in the late 70’s with their BMX bikes competitors in skateboarding are using four-wheeled skateboards for the first time in Olympic history So he’ll use the harder gear for the start and shift down after the first straight Of will he use the easier gear to pick up speed in the first few strokes and shift up A more refined approach is to build the two gears into the rear hub Routing all that torque through tiny planetary gears wastes a lot of energy It’s only your disdain of zip-ties that prevented you from Olympic gold… I’d just eat a lot of beans the day before and have jet propulsion Gday everyone Steve grant is my name Australian sidehack champion 1985/1987 we used a 2 speed shimano dx rear short throw derailer for ten years in Australia with absolutely no problems whatsoever but don’t want to deal with solvents Simpyfast claims their Lube Cube is the easiest way Peak Performance expands on their MTB specific clothing with new pants Apparently that’s an option when you’re designing products for the GOAT We spotted Cofidis racing an all-new prototype wireless 13-speed Campagnolo Super Record 13 WRL SC road groupset Canyon Bicycles is now selling select models directly through Amazon.com Want wireless shifting but don’t want to have to buy a whole new drivetrain Be protected from the sun with the new UV Hooded Trail Shirt… OrNot The new Van Nicholas Astraeus is a beautiful titanium road bike that’s limited to just 50 frames The Italian brand claims an impact with a rock caused a rim failure which caused the accident as Zipp also releases statement Vittoria has released a statement regarding Thomas de Gendt's recent crash at the UAE Tour and the subsequent controversy regarding hookless tubeless rims in the WorldTour peloton.  Speaking exclusively to Cyclingnews, Team Lotto-Dstny claimed their equipment was completely within the rules That is according to all prescriptions by the UCI The incident took place with a set of Zipp 353 NSW rims and commentators have suggested that the Zipp rim's internal width of 25mm was too wide to safely accommodate 28c tyres the tyres should be at least 29mm in width.  De Gendt himself pointed to a collision on social media as the cause of the equipment failure, posting to Twitter.com ,"I would like to know what I hit with my front wheel." the tyre manufacturer at the centre of the debate "In the aftermath of Thomas De Gendt's crash during the UAE Tour last week there has been some discussion about the hookless system," an official message stated "It is crucial to clarify that the rim's failure resulted from an impact with an object and is unrelated to the hookless rim design The intensity of the impact caused the rim/wheel to break in a manner that prevented the tire from staying securely in place The force was so severe that it tore apart the tire insert." Supporting De Gendt's assessment of the incident Vittoria distanced its tyre technology and compatibility from the equipment failure "It's important to emphasize that the accident was not a result of any compatibility issues among the components utilized by the team The Vittoria Corsa PRO 28mm TLR underwent extensive testing on various hookless commercial wheels including Zipp models (such as 353NSW).  "The compatibility was thoroughly validated through laboratory tests with official communication provided through the Sram website we consistently develop our products in strict adherence to ETRTO norms encompassing both current ETRTO standards and "Previous Standard Data (PSD)" ETRTO." which has championed hookless rims in recent years "Zipp takes the performance and safety of its products very seriously," a Zipp spokesperson stated we are looking into it and working directly with the teams and riders to make sure we understand exactly what happened The use of hookless rims and specific tyre compatibility is likely to continue to be scrutinised as is the use of safety foam within the tyre - which in this case is alleged to have increased danger "When you look at the images of Thomas de Gendt’s bike the safety foam inside got caught in the fork and that locks up the front wheel," Hansen added in his interview with Velo While we will expect further clarification from Zipp and Vittoria it's likely that the equipment failure - whether caused by collision or not - will continue to focus scrutiny on the rapidly changing rim and tyre technology being used in the pro peloton overseeing editorial output across all of Cyclingnews' digital touchpoints Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine Starting life as a freelance feature writer with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph he first entered cycling journalism in 2012 Peter has a background as an international rower representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships Belgian tips Remco Evenepoel to win upcoming Vuelta a España Now back in racing at the Tour de Pologne, De Gendt last rode a single Grand Tour in a season in 2014 when he did the Giro d’Italia - which this year Lotto-Dstny did not race telling his team he was “not ready.” which De Gendt says he found mostly enjoyable even if the thermometer hit some unbearably high levels on one day “It was the day we left Andorra when we finished somewhere in Catalonia so suddenly we went down from altitude and into a headwind for 20 kilometres with temperatures of 47 degrees,” De Gendt told Cyclingnews at the start of stage 1 of Pologne.  “The other days it was only 35 degrees because “You act like you’re in a race and you’re riding for long spells Then you’re in the hotel and try to find some good food And you just try and get enough food and enjoy the ride along the way.” “It was a pity that we had headwinds all the time In agreement with cyclingnews, growing acclimatized to such extreme heat should come in useful in the Vuelta a España It certainly beats Bradley Wiggins ‘homemade’ method of heat adaption to the Vuelta in 2011 prepared by putting the rollers in his garden shed and then putting a couple of electric heaters at full blast “That’s why I stayed in Calpe after riding there and I’ll go back there after this race to adapt to that heat again,” De Gendt told cyclingnews.  As for getting into breaks in his fourth participation in the Tour de Pologne De Gendt is guardedly optimistic but points to his team obligations as well “If there is a chance and I’m allowed but we have a few guys here who can do a good GC,” he indicated “Lennert van Eetvelt is a young guy but he will try to see how far he can get in a race like this one.”  has already shone in central Europe this summer in Romania where he won a stage and finished second overall “and it’ll be good to see how good he is against the real GC guys So we have to support him and then we have a sprinter that needs support,” De Gendt said Even before Evenepoel claimed a record-equalling third victory De Gendt said if he was asked to lay money on a winner in the upcoming Vuelta it’d be to back the same rider who triumphed there last year maybe the fatigue from the Tour will catch up with him “But if I really hard to bet I think it would be on Evenepoel I think he will be the best prepared.” And after the results in San Sebastian many people would likely follow De Gendt's betting preference for La Vuelta Lotto-Dstny and Trek-Segafredo riders abandon after hard falls as riders took to social media to show their good will and sportsmanship following De Gendt's apology "I touched the back wheel of [Luis Leon] Sanchez and went down hard," De Gendt wrote after leaving the race early following the crash "I'm sorry for the riders I took down with me who Trek-Segafredo said needed stitches to a gash on his eyebrow Sanchez also offered his best wishes after finishing the stage The crash took De Gendt and Skjelmose out of the race while Trek's Julien Bernard and Sanchez finished the stage Lotto-Dstny later announced that De Gendt suffered multiple abrasions and would return to Belgium for examinations Last crash that I can remember was in 2018 Even had to ask our busdriver what others did in the shower to clean the wounds," De Gendt wrote later The crash came just before the start of the 15.7-kilometre climb of the Col de la Couillole Trek-Segafredo had hoped to move Skjelmose up from 13th place 2:06 behind Paris-Nice leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and third in the best young rider standings the Dane left the race with multiple abrasions There was no sign of a concussion from the hard fall but the team said they would monitor him I touched the backwheel of LL Sanchez and went down hard. I’m sorry for the riders i took down with me. It was my fault. I’m waiting to get examined by the doctor. Further update will follow later.March 11, 2023 I forgot how much crashing hurts. Last crash that i can remember was in 2018. Even had to ask our busdriver what others did in the shower to clean the wounds.March 11, 2023 she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track Laura has a passion for all three disciplines When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads UCI governance and performing data analysis Vittoria has released a statement concerning Thomas De Gendt’s crash at the 2024 UAE Tour As a supplier to De Gendt’s Lotto Dstny team, the statement seeks to clarify details of the incident, which occurred on stage five of the UAE Tour Specifically, Vittoria claims the crash was “unrelated” to the fact De Gendt was using hookless rims and occurred as a result of De Gendt’s front wheel impacting a rock “The intensity of the impact caused the rim/wheel to break in a manner that prevented the tyre from staying securely in place,” Vittoria says noting “​​The force was so severe that it tore apart the tyre insert.” As a result of this failure, the tyre and the insert dismounted from De Gendt’s Zipp 353 NSW front wheel causing him to lose control of the bike and crash Vittoria’s statement goes on to reaffirm its Corsa Pro TLR tyre (the model De Gendt was using) has undergone “extensive testing” on various hookless wheels and that this incident was not due to any “compatibility issues” between the wheels and tyres De Gendt was using Vittoria says its development for the Corsa Pro TLR involved testing on hookless rims both in a laboratory environment and in the real world and that its tyres and other products are developed with “strict adherence to ETRTO norms encompassing both current ETRTO standards and ‘Previous Standard Data (PSD)’ ETRTO.” In the aftermath of Thomas De Gendt's crash during the UAE Tour last week there has been some discussion about the hookless system It is crucial to clarify that the rim's failure resulted from an impact with an object The intensity of the impact caused the rim/wheel to break in a manner that prevented the tyre from staying securely in place The force was so severe that it tore apart the tyre insert It's important to emphasise that the accident was not a result of any compatibility issues among the components utilised by the team The compatibility was thoroughly validated through laboratory tests with official communication provided through the SRAM website encompassing both current ETRTO standards and "Previous Standard Data (PSD)" ETRTO Tour of Flanders crashes decimate Intermarché for cobbled Classic team refocuses on providing opportunity for rising riders In 2022 Intermarché-Circus-Wanty placed five riders in the top 20 at Paris-Roubaix with Tom Devriendt finishing just off the podium but in recent weeks injury and illness have decimated the Belgian team the World Team is forced to head to Paris-Roubaix on Sunday April 9th without these three riders." The 2022 Gent-Wevelgem winner Girmay left the hospital in Kortrijk on Tuesday afternoon.  "Just like for Taco van der Hoorn his recovery from concussion is going well and no fractures were revealed in additional examinations," said team head doctor Ortwin Schäfer.  "Both have to observe several days of rest in order to avoid long term effects of concussion Also the recovery of their wounds will take some time "In the case of Taco van der Hoorn it is a cut in the eyebrow arch Biniam Girmay suffers from abrasions and contusions on his body and in his face Both will resume sports step by step the next weeks." also underwent surgery and the team added that he will be able to resume training on rollers when his plaster is removed in ten days.  The Tour of Flanders crashes also weren't the only withdrawals fell at Dwars Door Vlaanderen and fractured a bone in his hand our young talents will again receive the opportunity to show themselves following the absence of five strong elements of our initial selection due to injury or illness," said Aike Visbeek performance manager at Intermarché-Circus-Wanty "They will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience alongside Mike Teunissen and Baptiste Planckaert I feel they are ready to take up this challenge." the team is expected to include Laurenz Rex who joined Intermarché from Bingoal Pauwels Sauces this season and 20-year-old Belgian Both completed their first Tour of Flanders on Sunday The team is yet to name their full Paris-Roubaix squad we will have to exploit all our tactical options and certainly adopt an offensive behavior," said Visbeek She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor Previously she worked as a freelance writer Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.