Meeus boosts Red Bull Tour selection hopes with Brussels Cycling Classic victory

It was a dramatic finale in Brussels with a crash inside the final kilometre, just as Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost) launched a late but opportunistic attack. 

The Italian opened an advantage that needed closing, and it was Meeus’ teammate and Dutch Champion Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) who made the effort to close the gap, before the final sprint was launched with Meeus victorious. 

It marks Meeus’ fourth victory of the season; a result and performance that do no harm to his chances of selection for the Tour de France. 

A former winner on the Champs-Élysées, Meeus is on Red Bull’s provisional longlist for the Tour, but with the likes of Florian Lipowitz and Remco Evenepoel likely to command domestiques for the mountains, it remains to be seen how the final selection will unfold. 

“I don’t know if it’s really going to be very difficult to get into the Tour selection. I am still in the preliminary selection, so I stand a chance of going to France,” Meeus told Wielerflits post-race. “The victory in Brussels and those of the previous weeks will help in any case.”

Van Poppel has established a rock-solid partnership with Meeus, and the Dutch Champion also discussed how the duo can only go about continuing their current business to try and secure a Tour spot. 

Next on the horizon is the Copenhagen Sprint, where Meeus will line up as defending champion, having won the inaugural edition last year.

“We have no idea if it will work out, but we’re doing our best. We’re going to show ourselves one more time in Copenhagen,” said Van Poppel. “I think it’s fine this way. If you let your legs do the talking, you can earn a selection or whatever. We are trying to do that as well as possible.”

Beyond the names mentioned, those who appear to be on the current long list for Tour selection include the likes of Mattia Cattaneo, Maxim van Gils, Nico Denz, Mick van Dijke, Daniel Felipe Martínez, Gianni Moscon, Jan Tratnik and Jai Hindley.

Hindley, fresh off finishing third at the Giro d’Italia, indicated his interest in lining up for the Tour de France in a support role. 

“Originally there was talk of me doing the Tour to support a couple big dogs there,” Hindley told CyclingPro.net in Rome. “I would really love to do the Tour with the team that we take there. I think it would be really cool actually to be part of that squad. But we’ll see how it is after this.”

If Meeus does make Red Bull’s Tour selection, it could well be his last in the colours of the German team. With his contract expiring this winter, Meeus has been linked with a move to fellow German side Lidl-Trek, though the deal has yet to be formally announced.