Although he picked up the first and last stage of the Presidential Tour of Turkey this week and in doing so, beat Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol), Marcel Kittel (Argos Shimano), Matt Goss (GreenEdge) and several other top sprinters, Theo Bos is still to fully rate his performances and his position in the sport.
The five-time world track sprint champion continues to emphasize that he’s got room for improvement. He’s cut his bulk down from his track worlds peak in 2006, when he took keirin and sprint gold medals in Bordeaux, with the rider now weighing in at 77 kilometres rather than 83.
Still, despite that, despite his vastly-improved endurance and the fact that he’s picked up several wins since concentrating to the road after the 2008 Olympics, he says there’s much left to do.
“I know I’m fast. But still, as a cyclist, I don’t find myself a really good cyclist in general,” he said, self-critically. “I think I’m a fast guy on a bike, especially for 200 meters but cycling on the road is longer than 200 meters.
“I think I have to improve more and more on the other aspects, and be more certain in big races.”
As a result, he is reluctant to name targets for the Giro, where he will line out as one of the protected riders for the flatter stages.
“It’s really difficult after this stage race to make a goal. It is easy to say now that I’ll go for a win. But I don’t know. It’s only my second grand Tour. Top three [on a stage] looks a reasonable goal,” he said.
Still, 28 year old Bos believes that it is possible to step things up in time. “In the long term, my goal is to be a world class sprinter with a lot of wins, and also with wins in the Grand Tours.”
Click on the video below for the full press conference after today’s stage. The nine minute clip reveals his opinion on the stage and how it unfolded, the way his pairing works with Mark Renshaw, his thoughts on using skinsuits in road races, a potentially missed opportunity for the Rabobank riders to have taken the green points jersey today and more.