Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) may have already taken three victories this season, the latest and by far the biggest of which being last weekend’s World Cup in Kalmthout, Belgium, but the 22-year-old is not ready to take the responsibility of leadership of the Telenet-Fidea team, according to Sporza. With the signature of teammate and World champion Zdenek Stybar being hunted by the Quick Step ProTeam, this is a distinct possibility though.
With long-standing team leader Bart Wellens seemingly unable to recapture his former glory after suffering from Cytomegalovirus in 2009, and Meeusen’s fellow up-and-coming rider Kevin Pauwels seemingly off to Sunweb-Revor at the end of the season, the loss of Stybar would make Meeusen the team’s biggest rider.
“The departure of Stybar would be a disaster for me,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws. “I’m not ready for the leader’s role.”
“The team is currently assured 15 to 20 victories per season, including 10 from Stybar; without him, the pressure would be too great for me.”
Should Stybar finally give in to the temptation of the money and the chance to ride on a ProTeam on the road, and go to Quick Step, Meeusen thinks Telenet-Fidea will take a while to recover. The team is currently, arguably, the biggest in the sport, without the World champion though, who is the source of most of its victories, the turquoise, yellow and white team would be far less dominant.
“Without Stybar, Hans Van Kasteren, the team management and the sponsors need to realise that the [number of wins] would be lower for a few years,” he said. “They can’t expect 15 wins per season from me.”
He may not be willing to take on the responsibility too often yet but, after his victory in the snow of Kalmthout last weekend, Meeusen will be one of the hot favourites in Heuseden-Zolder on Sunday.