Van Aert and Van der Poel leave it late for Montreal as jet lag question lingers

By then, Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas and Isaac Del Toro had already spent more than a week in Canada. All three raced the Grand Prix de Québec and Grand Prix de Montréal before also lining up in the World Championship time trial.

Their acclimatisation is largely done. For Van Aert and Van der Poel, it starts now.

Montreal is six hours behind Belgium and the Netherlands. The old rule says roughly one day of adjustment for every hour of time difference. Taken literally, five days would be cutting it fine.

Belgian team doctor Kris Van der Mieren believes that rule should not be applied too rigidly to elite riders.

“For the average person, you can use that calculation,” he told Het Nieuwsblad. “But we are talking about top athletes here. All the studies show that they adapt much faster.”

According to Van der Mieren, one day for every one and a half or even two hours is a more realistic estimate for riders at this level.

“So nobody needs to worry,” he said. “Some riders might have slightly heavy legs during the first few days, but someone like Van Aert will be fully adjusted by Sunday.”

That does not mean the issue is meaningless.

“Our sleep and wake rhythm is very precisely regulated by the brain,” Van der Mieren said. “If you suddenly shift everything by six hours, that rhythm is seriously disturbed.”

His concern would be the latter part of Sunday’s race. If a rider were still operating completely on European time, the body could interpret the final hours of the race very differently.

“If the race finishes around 4pm, your body could still think it is 10pm,” he explained. “It starts preparing for the night. Cortisol production drops, testosterone drops and the body starts moving towards recovery mode. That obviously isn’t ideal when you are trying to produce a major effort.”

Belgian Cycling has been working on that problem before the riders even board the plane. Van der Mieren said the federation met with coaches months ago to prepare an adaptation plan.

“It really isn’t that complicated,” he said. “Go to bed an hour earlier in the days before travelling, move your meal times forward a little. You can already gain valuable time before arriving in Canada.”

Belgian Jan Bakelants is less relaxed about the timing. The former professional questioned why Van Aert and Van der Poel had chosen to stay in Europe until Tuesday, while others had already spent more than a week acclimatising in Canada.

“The only thing I would have done differently in their case is the timing of the trip to Canada,” Bakelants wrote in an analysis for Het Laatste Nieuws.

“There is simply no advantage to leaving this late.”

Bakelants does not dispute the logic behind their schedules, but he questions the price of staying in Europe until Tuesday.

“I understand that Wout wanted to be at home for a while after all those weeks away, and I understand that Mathieu preferred to race in Luxembourg,” he said. “But I’m afraid the jet lag could still be in their system.”

Evenepoel is in a very different position. He has been in Canada for close to two weeks, racing in Québec and Montreal before winning the World Championship time trial on Sunday.

“The jet lag is completely out of his body now,” Bakelants said.

His concern comes partly from experience. Bakelants raced both Canadian WorldTour events several times during his career and remembers feeling a clear difference as the days passed.

“When your day and night rhythm is disturbed, it also affects your hormones,” he said. “I could never really get my engine going in Québec, while a few days later in Montreal it was always much better.”

For Van Aert and Van der Poel, Sunday will show whether five days in Montreal was enough.