{"id":260078,"date":"2025-11-13T08:08:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T08:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/260078\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T08:08:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T08:08:13","slug":"thats-worth-just-as-much-as-the-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/260078\/","title":{"rendered":"That’s worth just as much as the wins"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

But in his own right, Wellens is on top of the world. Podium at Strade Bianche (where Pogacar won), Belgian national title and a stage win at the Tour de France where he was again key to Pogacar’s overall win, for a second year in a row. “It was a huge success for me. Not only because of the stage win, but also because I arrived in Paris as part of a team that dominated the race,” he admits. “It\u2019s an incredible experience”.<\/p>\n

Asked about the departing Juan Ayuso, Wellens complemented the youngster, who will move on to Lidl-Trek and become a rival for the team in which he turned pro with back in 2021. “Being a professional means different things to different people. Some need to measure everything down to the millimeter; Others need balance to sustain it all year round”.<\/p>\n

“In UAE, everyone is very professional. Juan has a great mindset for handling it. Juan makes the decision he feels is best for him. But having Pogacar as a benchmark makes life easier. When he’s not there, the pressure is greater. We’ll see how he does; hopefully very well”.<\/p>\n

Reach the 100 wins in 2026?\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It will be difficult. I thought it was impossible to improve on 2024, and we did it in 2025. Perhaps it will be difficult to repeat, but this team is full of champions”. The team loses Ayuso who was key to the team’s tally this year, but with the signing of Beno\u00ect Cosnefroy, and the potential step up by some of its young talents, it is definitely possible to reach that number.<\/p>\n

Even if that sounds, for other teams and some fans, like arrogant behaviour in the peloton. “I understand that. If I weren’t on the team, perhaps I wouldn’t like to see someone else win so much either. But I’m in\u2026 and hopefully we’ll win 200”.<\/p>\n

On Isaac del Toro, Wellens has no doubt a future champion (although by most standards he already is) is in the making: “He has natural talent and a very strong mind. He’s young, but very mature. He has a huge future”.<\/p>\n

\"TimWellens<\/p>\n

Wellens was perhaps the strongest he’s ever been in 2025, culminated by a Tour de France win. @Sirotti<\/p>\n

Belgian to take more leadership<\/p>\n

“It’s not my year with the most victories, but it is with the biggest ones. Being national champion in Belgium is huge. And winning a Tour stage in that jersey\u2026 it’s a dream. I know I’ll never win the overall, but for me, that’s the ultimate,” he says.<\/p>\n

Because of this, he may have more leadership opportunities next spring, mainly in the cobbled classics and potentially Ardennes. Much will depend on Pogacar’s own calendar choices. “In 2024 I did very well; in 2025 somewhat less so. In 2026 I want to be back at the front. They’re races that require strength\u2026 and also luck”.<\/p>\n

And on what makes Pogacar great, the Belgian concluded: “Everyone knows he’s the best. But what makes the difference is that he’s also one of the best people in the peloton. He stays grounded. That’s worth just as much as the wins”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" But in his own right, Wellens is on top of the world. Podium at Strade Bianche (where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-260078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}