{"id":861940,"date":"2026-08-20T11:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/861940\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T11:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:20:10","slug":"belgian-media-puts-a-lot-of-pressure-on-the-riders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/861940\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgian media puts a lot of pressure on the riders"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

For young riders aspiring to emulate the greats, that pressure and comparison can be constricting. 21-year-old De Schuyteneer has worked on not giving in to pressure as he insisted he’s just a ‘normal guy’ ahead of his Vuelta baptism.<\/p>\n

With victories at the Tour of Istanbul and Taihu Lake to his name, he has built up an impressive catalogue of top ten performances in 2026, ranging from WorldTour UAE Tour and Tour de Pologne sprints to impressive placings in Scheldeprijs and Brussels Cycling Classic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said it was an option to go to the Vuelta, so if that\u2019s an option you have to take it. It\u2019s more like a lesson for me, to get the first Grand Tour, especially to build the engine,” he told Domestique.<\/a>De Schuyteneer on Belgian media and pressure<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did it in the past with younger riders, to develop. It\u2019s a good Grand Tour to start your first Grand Tour, because it\u2019s less stress than the Giro, and the Tour is the biggest one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stress doesn’t infect his performances as he insisted that he keeps himself grounded. Noting the commentary on social media and publications, De Schuyteneer is trying to control the amount of pressure he puts on himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really have stress before the race. It doesn\u2019t matter what they are talking about in the Belgian media. I\u2019m also just a normal guy from Belgium who goes to the farmer fields here in Geraardsbergen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a young rider you look a bit to the Belgian media and what they write on Twitter [now X, Ed.] or Facebook. I think the Belgian media puts a lot of pressure on the riders, but it\u2019s also the rider that puts a lot on himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of team environment, he praised Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 as they attempt to give him opportunities rather than ultimatums, noting that the merge of last winter hasn’t been plain sailing but expects things to improve.<\/p>\n

\"Steffen<\/p>\n

Steffen De Schuyteneer<\/p>\n

Pressure from team? Rider’s Vuelta ambitions<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you feel it a bit from the team, but not really, because they just give me my chances. If I do a bad sprint, it\u2019s not that they\u2019re going to kick me out of the team, or next race you have to be the bottle guy. It\u2019s a nice team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have a quite decent season after the merger, because it\u2019s not easy how it really goes. The first year of a merger is always the worst, so I think from next year on it will improve. And now the second part I think will be better also.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the Vuelta just two days away, finishing is on the 21-year-old’s mind as he seeks to get three weeks under his belt. 2027 drifts into view as another run at the classics and big sprints are also an appetising prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, to finish. Because it\u2019s my first Grand Tour. And then we have to see. Actually I want to do a good prologue also next Saturday, so hopefully that goes well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can still go every way. I can go to the sprints but also to the classics. We\u2019ll see in the future how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For young riders aspiring to emulate the greats, that pressure and comparison can be constricting. 21-year-old De…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,242828,85,39562],"class_list":["post-861940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-lotto-intermarche","tag-sports","tag-vuelta-a-espana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861940","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=861940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}