Cycling Profs
Brabant on top of Mallorca. Lennert Van Eetvelt was second on the podium next to fellow countryman Kobe Goossens. — © EPA-EFE
Talk about an entry. Lennert Van Eetvelt immediately started his professional career last week in the Trofeo Mallorca with a second and third place. And say that the 21-year-old Lotto-Dstny driver still had to deal with glandular fever in the winter.
Ief Vertommen
“I am happy to finally be home again,” says the driver from Binkom. “Since the beginning of December, that has been the case for barely five days. No, that was not very long after my glandular fever. It wasn’t until mid-December that I could really start thinking about training again. Such a glandular fever really sucks all your powers away. There are therefore not many training kilometers on the counter yet. That is why I am also so surprised with those results in Mallorca. I had gone there without much ambition, not with the intention of achieving. In hindsight, I could hardly have done better. Well, you are a professional, and afterwards you also think that the profit might have been there.”
Van Eetvelt is now home to refuel, but can soon get back to work. “In February, Murcia and the four-day Tour of the Var are on the agenda, among others. Afterwards it gets really exciting for me in the Strade Bianche. Not that I will go there for a result. The motto is: gain experience, see what works and what doesn’t. I want to try to continue the line of my first matches.”
Vuelta
But the Binkomnaar’s biggest exam is probably still waiting at the end of the season. “Then the Tour of Spain is indeed on the schedule. That will immediately mean a giant step in my career, but I am convinced that this is the right direction. After winning the Peace Race and a stage victory and a second place in the general classification of the Baby Giro, I have already shown that I have a talent for the laps. Now I want to find out at the highest level how far my possibilities in climbing go.”
