‘People were looking at me like, what the fuck?’ - Steffen De Schuyteneer goes all in for Vuelta debut

When we spoke to Steffen De Schuyteneer at the start of the season, he mentioned that a certain big race in Spain might be on the agenda. Seven months later, the Belgian has a start number for it.

“It’s my first Grand Tour, the Vuelta. So I’m happy to be there in Monaco, Saturday.”

The possibility had been raised by Lotto-Intermarché earlier in the year and, from De Schuyteneer’s perspective, there was never much of a decision to make.

“They said it was an option to go to the Vuelta, so if that’s an option you have to take it. It’s more like a lesson for me, to get the first Grand Tour, especially to build the engine.”

At 21, De Schuyteneer heads to Spain without the burden of needing to deliver a major result. The Vuelta is first and foremost another step in his development, and an opportunity to discover how his body responds to three weeks of racing.

“They did it in the past with younger riders, to develop. It’s a good Grand Tour to start your first Grand Tour, because it’s less stress than the Giro, and the Tour is the biggest one.”

For a rider who could eventually develop into both a sprinter and a classics contender, those three weeks could prove valuable far beyond September.

“So it’s quite a good one to start with, and then to build the engine to the next years also, like extra bullets in the classics.”

His preparation has been anything but comfortable.

After the Belgian championships, De Schuyteneer spent three weeks at altitude in Andorra before heading straight to the Tour de Pologne. He has since returned home to Geraardsbergen, where recovery has taken priority in the final days before the Vuelta.

“Now I’m like seven days at home to recover a bit from the altitude and from Poland. So hopefully we are fully recovered and are ready.”

There was still one particularly unpleasant box to tick.

“Last week I did a heat training. First like three hours, and then straight after I did one hour heat training. But it was already 37 degrees outside, and then I still took my rain jacket on. So I was quite cooked when I came home.”

Rather than hiding indoors on a turbo trainer, De Schuyteneer took the session onto his local roads.

The sight of a professional cyclist riding through the Belgian summer in a rain jacket did not go unnoticed.

“A lot of people were looking at me like, what the fuck is this guy doing with the rain jacket?”

To De Schuyteneer, however, there is little unusual about it anymore. Heat adaptation has become another part of the increasingly meticulous preparation required at the highest level, and could prove particularly useful at a Vuelta where soaring temperatures are often part of the challenge.

“Everyone does it nowadays, so you have to do it also, otherwise you can’t compete.”

He is not particularly worried about the heat awaiting him in Spain either. If anything, he finds hot days in Belgium harder to deal with.

“In June I was in Spain, I had like a five hour ride at 35 degrees, and it felt quite fine. In Belgium you still can’t breathe.”

De Schuyteneer’s Vuelta begins with a 9.4 kilometre prologue through Monaco.

For some debutants, a technical opening time trial might add another layer of nerves. For De Schuyteneer, it is something to look forward to.

“I did prologues in the juniors, but I never did one by the pros. It’s also really technical, and I love it when it’s really technical.”

Opportunities for the sprinters could be harder to come by.

“It’s really hard, like always. If there is a chance to sprint I will sprint, and that’s it. The first sprint chance is maybe the second day, but also maybe it’s a reduced bunch sprint already.”

A more obvious opportunity might not arrive until deep into the race.

“I think the first real sprint is like on day 11, so already the second week. We still have to survive the first week.”

Even the opening stages through France offer little chance to ease into his Grand Tour debut.

“It’s hard actually already the first day, because in France it’s technical. If you see on VeloViewer it’s quite technical, and it’s also how you will race, of course. If they really want a hard race from week one, it will be tough.”

Jonathan Milan and Tim Merlier may be absent, but the sprint field still includes riders De Schuyteneer knows will be difficult to beat.

“It’s nice to be in a less sprint field, but still there are probably a lot of fast sprinters. Brennan and Van Aert will be there, it will still be hard, but we can try and we’ll see.”

A young Belgian rider entering his first Grand Tour inevitably attracts attention at home.

De Schuyteneer appears largely unmoved by it.

“I don’t really have stress before the race. It doesn’t matter what they are talking about in the Belgian media. I’m also just a normal guy from Belgium who goes to the farmer fields here in Geraardsbergen.”

He does, however, understand why the scrutiny can weigh more heavily on other young riders.

“As a young rider you look a bit to the Belgian media and what they write on Twitter [now called X] or Facebook. I think the Belgian media puts a lot of pressure on the riders, but it’s also the rider that puts a lot on himself.”

The environment at Lotto-Intermarché gives him room to make mistakes.

“Sometimes 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’s not that they’re going to kick me out of the team, or next race you have to be the bottle guy. It’s a nice team.”

De Schuyteneer also feels the circumstances surrounding the squad are sometimes overlooked. Lotto-Intermarché is still navigating its first season following the merger.

“I think we have a quite decent season after the merger, because it’s 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.”

De Schuyteneer has also watched the pathway into professional cycling shift rapidly in Belgium.

Traditional Belgian under 23 teams increasingly have to compete with development squads linked directly to the sport’s biggest organisations.

“In previous years the good U23 riders from Belgium went to those teams. Nowadays they go to a development team, and they sometimes already have a good salary. So there’s no real difference anymore, except that they ride some bigger races. But now with a development team you can also ride .Pro races.”

He expects that recruitment race to reach younger riders too.

“You see it even in juniors already. The development teams start there. So in a few years maybe U17 will already start with it. It’s a bit like football nowadays. If you see Anderlecht, they already have U8. Ajax have the same.”

For De Schuyteneer himself, the ambitions in Spain remain deliberately simple.

First, reach the finish.

“First of all, to finish. Because it’s 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.”

Beyond the Vuelta, there is still plenty to discover. Whether De Schuyteneer ultimately becomes a pure sprinter, a classics rider, or something in between is a question for another season.

“It can still go every way. I can go to the sprints but also to the classics. We’ll see in the future how it goes.”