Former World champion sees little quality in the next generation of his country’s riders
Following Belgium’s second successive rainbow-free World Championships in St Wendel, Germany this weekend, two-time World champion Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea) has spoken out about what he sees as a lack of talent coming through, according to Sporza.
The Belgian under-23s, or “Beloften”, did not fare very well in St Wendel, with the best finisher Wietse Bosmans in sixth place. Joeri Adams (8th) and Vincent Baestaens (10th) both also made the top ten, but it is medals that the nation that dominates the sport expects.
They fared little better in the junior race, with World number one Laurens Sweeck best placed in fifth, but this was for a different reason, Wellens claims.
“In the juniors the Belgians can blame bad luck,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws, “but in the under-23s we just have a very weak class.”
A number of riders suffered punctures in the junior race, causing Laurens Sweeck’s twin brother Diether to abandon. Laurens himself suffered a number of crashes, one of which caused him to injure his foot, bit the under-23s had no such excuses.
“The talent is just not there,” Wellens continued, “Tom Meeusen was the last talent and is now a professional. I don’t know many others who can make the step forward.”
Wellens himself was twice the World under-23 champion, in 1999 and 2000, and silver medallist in the two previous years, both times behind arch-rival compatriot Sven Nys; he then went on the be Elite World champion in 2003 and 2004, with Nys winning in 2005.
Kevin Pauwels won the under-23 title in 2004 and Niels Albert in 2008, while Meeusen took the silver medal last year (he was retrospectively awarded second place after the disqualification of Polish brothers Paweł and Kacper Szczepaniak, who both tested positive for EPO).
While the World Championships could be seen as a disaster for the Belgians, they can find some solace with the performance of their riders throughout the season. True, newly crowned Dutch World champion Lars Van Der Haar won the World Cup and leads the Superprestige series, but Adams and Bosman lead the Gazet van Antwerpen (GvA) Trofee series.
In the juniors things are more optimistic as Laurens Sweeck leads a number of Belgians at the top of both the World Cup and Superprestige standings.
Luckily, although Wellens and Nys are both in their mid-30s and don’t have too many years left at the top, the current crop of Belgian stars has a number of young riders ready to dominate the scene until the juniors come of age. Pauwels is 26 years old, Albert is almost 25, and Meeusen is just 22.
Wellens needn't worry too much, the future still looks pretty bright for Belgian cyclocross.