{"id":509283,"date":"2026-03-02T10:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T10:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/509283\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T10:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T10:47:10","slug":"dylan-van-baarles-opening-weekend-and-his-words-teach-us-a-lot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/509283\/","title":{"rendered":"Dylan van Baarle\u2019s Opening Weekend \u2014 and his words \u2014 teach us a lot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dylan van Baarle has come through a mixed Opening Weekend. The 33-year-old Dutchman arrived at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne\u2013Brussels\u2013Kuurne with good legs after a strong Volta ao Algarve, but while he lost out to the cold on Saturday, he couldn\u2019t make the decisive move on Sunday. Speaking to IDLProCycling.com, Van Baarle stressed that his biggest objectives are only just around the corner. <\/p>\n

Van Baarle has popped up regularly in recent weeks \u2014 and almost always for positive reasons. First there was the in-depth story<\/a> about his work with new coach Michel Geerinck, who explained how he wants to guide Van Baarle back towards the very top. And Van Baarle\u2019s first races for his new team, Soudal Quick-Step, looked encouraging, including signs that he\u2019s climbing <\/a>well again. <\/p>\n

At Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, though, we barely saw Van Baarle near the front \u2014 but he insisted it wasn\u2019t about form. \u201cI was messing around with the weather a bit. Rain jacket on, rain jacket off\u2026 and in the end I could never really get warm again. It was a frustrating day,\u201d he said after sleeping on it ahead of Kuurne\u2013Brussels\u2013Kuurne.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo<\/p>\n

\"dylan-van-baarle-69a44e295fefd\"\/Van Baarle feels calmer at Soudal Quick-Step<\/p>\n

In Sunday\u2019s classic, Van Baarle did attack \u2014 several times, in fact. On a couple of occasions he looked strong as he rode clear, but against a peloton full of sprint teams it was always going to be difficult to stay away. Still, it will have been a useful stimulus, especially with the knowledge that we won\u2019t see Van Baarle racing for a few weeks now.<\/p>\n

Next up is an altitude camp, together with his fianc\u00e9e Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot, before his return at the end of March for the E3 Saxo Classic \u2014 when the real business begins. No Paris\u2013Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico, with the daily stress, risks and potential setbacks that come with those stage races.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s definitely part of the reason,\u201d Van Baarle explained. \u201cIn those races you also have to recharge mentally every single day, while you still have big objectives afterwards. I found that harder in recent years, and I hope this way it will work.\u201d <\/p>\n

At The Wolfpack, Van Baarle says he has found a new calm. \u201cIt gives me freedom in my head, that I can do what I like to do. That helps me in the races as well. I feel a lot calmer \u2014 also because of the freedom I get outside of cycling,\u201d he said. \u201cThe positive I can take from it is that I also feel relaxed away from competition. I know I can do my thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo<\/p>\n

\"dylan-van-baarle\"\/Van Baarle wants to be there in the finales in April<\/p>\n

Altitude camp. No racing in March. A build-up aimed at peak form for the races where he wants to shine. Van Baarle has already won Paris\u2013Roubaix and Dwars door Vlaanderen, and he is also targeting E3 and the Tour of Flanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely feel like it can come,\u201d he said. \u201cIn Omloop it actually felt good as well.\u201d <\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s rain and cold were the real opponent, but Van Baarle felt in the Algarve that he\u2019s getting there. Coach Geerinck even went as far as saying he is \u201c200 percent convinced\u201d that a top Van Baarle can match the very best. Van Baarle himself was a bit more cautious.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s a bit too early to say that I\u2019ll be able to follow Mathieu and Tadej later on,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I can get deep into finales again. That\u2019s the goal this year \u2014 to reach that level again.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dylan van Baarle has come through a mixed Opening Weekend. The 33-year-old Dutchman arrived at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-509283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}