{"id":419482,"date":"2026-01-17T17:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T17:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419482\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T17:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T17:05:12","slug":"danny-van-poppel-begins-2026-down-under-and-knows-what-he-wants-to-achieve-in-first-few-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419482\/","title":{"rendered":"Danny van Poppel begins 2026 Down Under and knows what he wants to achieve in first few months"},"content":{"rendered":"

Far from home, Dutch champion and ambassador of the red-white-blue, Danny van Poppel<\/a>, begins his season in Adelaide. The 32-year-old rider for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe will, in 2026, after several years as one of the better lead-outs in the world, race for his own chances again and spoke about it extensively with IDLProCycling.com.<\/p>\n

2025 was a year of realisation for Van Poppel. For several years at BORA-hansgrohe, the recruited sprinters hadn\u2019t succeeded, but suddenly it was lead-out Danny who delivered successes again. Van Poppel won two stages in Hungary, the national championship, and as the icing on the cake the final stage of the Tour of Holland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already have the most beautiful victory<\/a>. In the Tour of Holland, with number 1 in that champion\u2019s jersey. That was great for me and I still can\u2019t believe I did that. I had ruled out winning, and now I won that race at home in the red-white-blue in a beautiful way. It couldn\u2019t be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

That he starts his year on January 20 in Adelaide in the tricolour makes him pinch himself now and then. \u201cI also want to enjoy that champion\u2019s jersey and, for example, show it in the Amstel Gold Race. It\u2019s like I\u2019m world champion. That may sound strange, but I just never expected it anymore. I hadn\u2019t competed for five years because I was done with it. And then I race again and beat Kooij and Groenewegen, simple as that. Amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"van-poppel\"\/Van Poppel on trip Down Under: ‘Actually a good training block’<\/p>\n

Van Poppel ended his year on the last race day and is present again on day one. \u201cIt\u2019s starting again, eh. I finished very late and now I\u2019m back into it nicely,\u201d said the Dutch champion. \u201cI\u2019m not really in shape yet, but that can come quickly. Originally Jordi Meeus was supposed to go, but there are some finishes with just a small climb. And I can nicely get used to the train.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also a kind of training camp. You\u2019re in the heat, get good massages, good food: many forget that,\u201d Van Poppel says about the Tour Down Under<\/a>, which is sometimes still seen as a mandatory number. \u201cMany guys now feel that they have to be at altitude to be able to race in the spring. I don\u2019t see it like that at all: it\u2019s actually a good block and a beautiful trip. I\u2019m not so into training camps, so Down Under is a nice option.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that while he became a father last year and so is away from home for a long time in January. \u201cCycling is no longer number one at home, but it\u2019s super nice. Your life no longer revolves only around cycling, which might actually be good. It\u2019s a bit harder to leave home, but fortunately that little one doesn\u2019t yet realise much in the first few months and years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"SI202510190972\"\/Van Poppel eager to tackle the Giro as team leader<\/p>\n

After Australia, Van Poppel will be home for a longer period, as he will not race the UAE Tour this season. \u201cThen the Opening Weekend, Tirreno, Sanremo, possibly some Flemish races and then I work towards the Giro. There I will go as a leader and that\u2019s how Zak Dempster sees me too, as a sprinter with a team around me. I\u2019m really looking forward to it: we\u2019re just going for it and then we\u2019ll see. Maybe it hits once or multiple times, maybe not at all. You never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who will be in that team around Van Poppel then? \u201cI think I\u2019ll have Callum Thornley with me. A name to watch and someone from whom I have expectations. With Arne Marit, Jarrad Drizners, Gianni Vermeersch, Haimer Exteberria and Callum, we have really grown in depth and I\u2019m glad that Zak has seen that too. Nowadays as a sprinter you don\u2019t need much, but it\u2019s nice to have those men who can get over a hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is indeed my strength, to be able to drop someone like Merlier or Kooij,\u201d Van Poppel knows where he must find it compared to the absolute top sprinters. \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about fully focusing on sprinting, but I think I\u2019m better off just surviving that little climb. That\u2019s what we\u2019ll have to rely on anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"danny-van-poppel\"\/Van Poppel and the classics? ‘Will give it a go’<\/p>\n

\u201cThat could also have an advantage in the classics. Every year I\u2019ve at least thought once: shit, maybe I could\u2019ve done this too,\u201d he refers to races including the Omloop. \u201cThere aren\u2019t that many classics left for sprinters, but I\u2019ll give it a go. I really haven\u2019t been very good in the spring yet, but for example, the past years I did the UAE Tour. Then it all becomes too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

In those Flemish races, Van Poppel will also ride with Dutch teammates Tim and Mick van Dijke. \u201cThey\u2019re doing the classics and can of course also get over a hill, so if they\u2019re there\u2026 then they can help me very well. They\u2019re great guys and always super positive: they believe more in me than I do myself. It\u2019s also nice that we now have a good core.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"danny-van-poppel\"\/Van Poppel on new names in sprint core RedBull-BORA-hansgrohe<\/p>\n

The sprint core of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe is being strengthened quite well, with some names you wouldn\u2019t immediately expect at such a multimillion-euro team. According to Van Poppel, the peloton knows all too well how strong someone like Drizners is. \u201cThat\u2019s sometimes the pity of cycling, that guys like him do the work before the broadcasts have even started. While it\u2019s super important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCompare it to the way Visma | Lease a Bike signed Timo Kielich. Everyone in the peloton knows that such riders can position, but nowadays it\u2019s all about TrainingPeaks and results. He doesn\u2019t have that, because he helps us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the really hectic moments it\u2019s always the same guys who show up. Then you think: is he there again, or is he just annoying? (laughs) But that\u2019s actually good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Far from home, Dutch champion and ambassador of the red-white-blue, Danny van Poppel, begins his season in Adelaide.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,220980,172195,39733,85,198973],"class_list":["post-419482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-danny-van-poppel","tag-idl-productions","tag-red-bull-bora-hansgrohe","tag-sports","tag-tour-down-under"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}