Dutch champion to concentrate on the road even though he would be one of the favourites for victory in St-Wendel
Lars Boom (Rabobank) completely dominated Sunday’s World Cup race in Heusden-Zolder, which would surely make him one of the hottest favourites for next month’s World Championships in St-Wendel, Germany. The race will not be on the 24-year-old Dutch champion’s calendar this season though, as he is concentrating on preparing for the road season. Johan Lammerts, the Dutch cyclocross team selector is disappointed with Boom’s decision, ''but I understand his choice entirely.''
Lars deliberately chooses the road,” Lammerts continued. You can’t just turn up to the Cyclocross World Championships. He has been training with a view to the start of the road season in January.
“Lars was always a road racer,” he explained, “who took on cyclocross. He has of course ridden a full cross-season a few times, but his first priority will be the road, and to discover his ability and take his opportunities as a pro.''
For Boom to ride the cyclocross World Championships to win it would require an extra peak to his season, according to Lammerts. This is something that Boom is apparently not prepared to do this year, but the coach is hopeful that he might do in future.
“Lars has to three peak times,” Lammerts explained, “for the classics, for the Tour and for the [road] World Championships; a fourth peak of form is not possible. Perhaps in the future he could ride a cyclocross season combined with the classics. Adrie van der Poel did it like that, but at some point decided not to ride the Tour. In the summer he had extra rest time.
“But Lars is still young and I understand completely that he will first focus on the road,” he said. “Maybe that will change eventually, when he is older and knows exactly what he was on the road.''