The Olympic Games in Paris might still be 242 days away but Belgium has already named Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Jasper Philipsen as key riders on their long list for the road events.
National coach Sven Vanthourenhout named the 15-rider long team at a press event on Monday.
Belgium has qualified four places for the elite men’s road race, the maximum under the new quota system for a reduced 90-man peloton. Two of those riders – most likely Van Aert and Evenepoel – will take part in the individual time trial.
“We have already spoken to their management,” Vanthourenhout said of the pair. “Both have indicated that they want to prepare for the Olympic time trial.”
Van Aert has opted to race the Giro d’Italia and a reduced Classics campaign before the Olympics, while Evenepoel is due to race Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de France before Paris.
Competition for the remaining two places for the men’s road events will be fierce, and Vanthourenhout said the list would be reduced and then finalised in the days before the Tour de France.
The naming of the long team may seem premature, but teams are beginning to make plans for riders’ 2024 seasons and would have to structure their calendars around the Olympics.
“Discussions are planned with teams and riders in the coming weeks and then we will decide whether we will go to Paris with four potential medal candidates or with Wout and Remco and two domestiques,” Vanthourenhout said.
One of the potential medal candidates could be Jasper Philipsen, who proved he is more than just a sprinter with a second place in April at Paris-Roubaix behind Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel.
Vanthourenhout gave his impressions on the 273km course, which includes 2,800 metres of climbing across 13 named ascents, with the cobbled Côte de la butte Montmartre on each of the three,18.4km finishing circuits.
“It will certainly be a very interesting and atypical race, with a field of 90 riders for a race of more than 270 kilometers. Twenty riders can, so to speak, pull away after three turns and the race can be finished,” Vanthourenhout predicted.
“I wouldn’t compare the course to that of the World Championships in Glasgow, but the feeling will be the same.”
The team has yet to be named for the women’s road events, except for World Champion Lotte Kopecky as the obvious leader.
Kopecky intends to combine the road and track as she did with success in Glasgow, finding the opportunity to have multiple chances at a medal advantageous.
“Many riders only have one chance. It has to be a big success for them straight away. I certainly have two or three chances. I am also used to the combination of the road and the track. So I am aiming for several goals,” she said.
She may have to put her Madison plans on hold, with partner Shari Bossuyt provisionally suspended for a doping positive. If Bossuyt can’t compete, Kopecky said the Madison might be the first to go from her schedule.
“We will have to decide for ourselves whether it will be worthwhile to participate in the discipline. If something were to be deleted, it would probably be the Madison.”
Belgium’s 2024 Olympics men’s long-list
- Wout van Aert
- Tiesj Benoot
- Victor Campenaerts
- Jasper De Buyst
- Tim Declercq
- Arnaud De Lie
- Remco Evenepoel
- Frederik Frison
- Quinten Hermans
- Yves Lampaert
- Jasper Philipsen
- Alec Segaert
- Jasper Stuyven
- Edward Theuns
- Florian Vermeersch
- Tim Wellens
