Following a breakout 2009 campaign, expectations were very high for Vacansoleil's Johnny Hoogerland. At the end of an extremely long season, the results weren't quite to the standards of the year before, but nevertheless, Hoogerland gives himself a 7.5.
Hoogerland, and the rest of his Vacansoleil team, were immediately put to a disadvantage compared to the year before, because the squad was not selected to one of the three Grand Tours. For a rider like Hoogerland, who excels on the sport's most difficult terrain, the loss of a Grand Tour on his schedule robbed him of a valuable opportunity to score some big results.
Most notably for Hoogerland, the lack of a Vuelta start, put paid to any hopes of topping his previous season. A Vuelta start would not only have given the aggressive Dutchman a big shot at a result during the three week lap of Spain, but it also would have likely netted him a spot on the Dutch Worlds team, where he surely would have been a factor in Geelong.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and Hoogerland missed out on selection to the World Championships, despite being the Netherlands's best finisher the year before.
Hoogerland was obviously spurred on by his previous year's performance and put in some major work over the winter, to the tune of 8000 kilometers before his first race of the year. He started out in fine fashion with a 2nd place finish at the GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise at the end of January, 3rd overall at the Tour of the Mediterranean, and then 11th overall at the Ruta del Sol, but after that, things began to quiet down quickly.
When the spring high points arrived, Hoogerland didn't quite have it: 24th at the E3 Prijs, 31st at Gent-Wevelgem, 11th at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, 25th at Paris-Roubaix, 18th at the Brabantse Pijl, and 54th at the Amstel Gold Race. It wasn't a dismal showing by any means, but not up to the lofty standards that the 27 year old had set the season before.
The latter half of the season would see a significant improvement and a return to the fighting style of 2009. Victory in the mountains classification at the Tour of Poland heralded a new start. That was followed a few weeks later with 4th at the Druivenkoers, 5th overall at the Tour of Britain, then three straight top twenties, where he was rampant in the finales: the Memorial Marco Pantani (17th), the Giro di Toscana (15th), and the Giro dell'Emilia (12th).
Looking back at his season, Hoogerland was frank in an interview with Wieler Revue.
"It was not a bad year, I think, but it is unfortunate that we watched the really good races, and were not able to race them. You can talk about the what ifs, but it cannot be changed anymore."
Is it possible to summarize a year with a number? Hoogerland had just the number: "If last year was a nine, I give this season a seven and a half."
Even without the benefit of one single Grand Tour, Hoogerland still finished the season as the racer with the 8th most kilometers. In 2009, with the benefit of the Vuelta, he was fifth.
"I raced just over 15,000 kilometers, which is actually quite a lot…and without a Grand Tour!"
If 2010 was a bit of a down year for the Dutchman, the scene looks set for him to shine in 2011. Vacansoleil looks to be on the fast track to ProTeam status, which should ensure Grand Tour selections. That, coupled with a team that finished the transfer season with some significant addition, should see Hoogerland to his best year yet in 2011.