Bouwman wants to take good form to Dutch Championships
It is the week prior to the Tour de France. Traditionally, at this time of the year, the Dutch titles in different disciplines are awarded. In Emmen the riders compete for both the time trial victory and the road title. Koen Bouwman hopes to continue his good form of the past few weeks in the Dutch championships. “We are going to try to get the titles back in the team this year”, he says.
Time Trial
On Wednesday the time trial is on the programme in Emmen. Bouwman and teammate Tom Dumoulin will participate on behalf of Team Jumbo-Visma. In the province of Drenthe, the two riders will have to cover two local laps of about fifteen kilometres. Bouwman is confident that his legs will not let him down in the time trial. “I feel good. I may not be as fresh as I was during the Giro d’Italia, but the form and the power in my legs are still there. My good form made sure I rode a good time trial in the Tour of Belgium. I finished in the top ten.”
"I’ll try to get everything out of it and ride as fast as I can."
The number four of the last edition of the Dutch championship against the clock says he is not pinning himself down to a particular classification. “Hopefully I can continue this form in the coming week. I don’t have a specific goal in mind for the time trial. I can’t say I’m disappointed if I don’t finish on the podium. I’ll just try to get everything out of it and ride as fast as I can.”
Road race
The 2021 Dutch championship road race is virtually a copy of the 2020 edition. The riders will ride a 7.3 km course 27 times. The main obstacle is Mount VAM. The average gradient of this climb is 7 percent with peaks of up to 24 percent. Defending champion Mathieu van der Poel is the man to beat.
Despite the fact that the Dutch Championship is not Bouwman’s favourite race, the Dutchman keeps good memories of a previous edition. “The Dutch championship is not the best race of the season. It means a lot of gambling. Often, when you are part of a breakaway group, there is no racing because the composition of that group is not ideal. It often ends in a tactical game between the bigger teams. A few years ago, the Dutch championships took place in the Dutch region of the Achterhoek. At that time, I really started to believe in the final that I could try to win the title. I was in a leading group and the final seemed to be made for me. In the end, the race collapsed in the last lap and ended in a bunch sprint.”
"We will do our best to make sure the strongest rider is in our team."
The rider from Doetinchem knows who to watch out for next Sunday. “The course is made for Mathieu. This is a course where the strongest will emerge. We will do our best to make sure the strongest rider is in our team. We realise it will be a difficult task, but together we will do everything to win this race again.”
The Dutch championship on the road is the last race before the Dutch rider from the province of Gelderland takes a short break. “My programme is made up to this race. After a little break, I’m going to get together with the team to see what the new goals for this season are going to be. First I want to show beautiful things in the coming week”, Bouwman concludes.
