Van Baarle coach 200% convinced he can take on Pogacar and Van der Poel

At Soudal Quick-Step, the emphasis has shifted back to what once made Van Baarle one of the most feared classics riders in the peloton: a proven winner at Dwars door Vlaanderen in 2021, Paris-Roubaix in 2022, and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2023.

Not marginal gains or radical reinventions, but trust in his natural capacity as an extreme endurance athlete. “Riders of that calibre, I call them V8 engines, need a lot of volume to function at their best,” his coach Michel Geerincksaid to In de Leiderstrui. “In recent years he didn’t feel that was fully developed for him. We brought those big low intensity volumes back.”

Van Baarle’s spell at Visma | Lease a Bike was repeatedly disrupted by crashes and injuries, but there was also a lingering sense that he was operating within a structure that did not completely suit his profile. The new approach is about alignment Geerinck said: “There are no secrets in cycling. Good riders need volume, intensity and a balanced programme. But Dylan has regained a bit more freedom. He can do things more his way again, and that has been a big stimulus.”

This echoes comments Van Baarle himself made to Sporza recently. “At Soudal Quick-Step I have a bit more freedom again to find out if my extreme training approach still works,” the 33-year-old Dutchman explained, hinting that he is ready to revisit the methods that helped him reach his peak.

Asked whether he felt too constrained at Visma | Lease a Bike, Van Baarle was careful to nuance it, but admitted he would have preferred a different build up.

"I did have some choice there,” he said. “But I would have liked to do something else in my preparation for a Classic. I know that in the past I may have used some extreme training formats, but it always worked.”

The numbers from winter testing have fuelled optimism according to Geerinck. “Physically, the tests have shown that he is back to his old top level. That is fantastic news for him and gives him confidence.”

Van Baarle’s defining quality has never been explosive brilliance over a handful of seconds. It is durability. He reads races instinctively, knows when to anticipate and, once clear, rarely comes back. “Van der Poel and Pogacar are extreme athletes,” his coach acknowledges. 

“You need a really good plan to beat them. But don’t give Van Baarle 20 seconds, because then he’s gone. I am 200 percent convinced he can get back to that level.”

That conviction is rooted in memory as much as data. Muscles, he argues, remember. “You are surprised how quickly riders with those qualities adapt again. Muscles have memory and switch back quite fast to a certain trigger. It can be done in one winter, and we are where we want to be.”

The Classics will provide the only verdict that counts. Van Baarle is set to prepare his season at the Volta ao Algarve before lining up at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne Brussel Kuurne a day later. After an altitude camp, he returns for the heart of the cobbled campaign at the E3 Saxo Classic, with Dwars door Vlaanderen also pencilled in, before building towards his main targets at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.