Why Dries De Bondt replaces Alpecin-Deceuninck with AG2R: ‘I played open cards with the Roodhooft brothers’ | Cycling

“It’s very simple, he was not allowed to stay at the Alpecin des Sonnens,” says Oliver Naesen at the beginning of our interview with Dries de Bondt.

The 2020 Belgian champion has been part of the Roodhoft brothers’ perennial fixture for five years. Has De Bondt already been made redundant at Alpecin Design?

“I have to immediately refute what Ole says,” De Bondt laughs. “Staying at Alpecin Desoninck was definitely an option. But I played open cards with the brothers.”

Predicting and winning races from the ride using racing intelligence has been De Bondt’s trademark for years.

It has earned him victories in the Giro (2022), the Belgian Championship (2020), the Halle Enguegem (2x), the Rijk van Steenbergen Memorial (2019), the Stir van Besges (2020) and this year’s Antwerp Harbor Epic.

But in a team that included leaders and multiple winners such as Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen, de Bondt was given less and less freedom to indulge in his role as stage-grabber.

Therefore the offer from Decathlon-AG2R should not be taken lightly.

“In AG2R they don’t have Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogacar starting in the Classics,” De Bondt explains.

“This means that the team, like all other teams that do not have such an outstanding player, will have to be creative in the classics.”

“We’ll have to pick our moments in the race to send guys to the front. That’s the only way to compete against these big guys.”

A tactic that makes De Bondt’s mouth water. “Together with Stan DeWolf and Oliver Naesen, I got the role that perfectly suited me.”

It became clear yesterday during the team presentation that De Bondt is held in high esteem by his new team.

“Our sporting director Julian Jordi devoted part of the presentation to me and my role in the team,” De Bondt points out.

“It really makes me feel wanted. It also makes me want to start the season with more enthusiasm and more ambition.”