Tour de France revelation Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) has shared his thoughts on next year’s route. The Belgian surprised many during this year's race when he won stage fourteen to Plateau de Beille and nearly clinched the King of the mountains classification which he lead for a large portion of the race. He eventually finished third overall in that competition, as well as twentieth in the Tour.
With next year’s route widely known, Vanendert is looking forward to tackling the race with new team Lotto-Ridley.
“I really like the 2012 Tour de France, although riding time trials is not my strength and there’s nearly a hundred kilometres of it, which is a lot,” he told dhnet.be. “I will ride the Tour to try to win a stage and help Jurgen Van den Broeck to a good overall ranking.
"For me, there are several options already in the first week in Seraing and Boulogne. Then, in the Vosges and Jura.”
The race will start in his home country, with the first week featuring roads familiar to Vanendert. This year, he rode in support of Philippe Gilbert during the Belgian’s clean sweep in the Ardennes classics, while he himself went on to finish in the top twenty of all three races.
He was thirteenth in the Amstel Gold Race, sixth in Flèche Wallonne and seventeenth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, showing his strength. He then clocked up seventh on stage two of the Critérium du Dauphiné.
Gilbert is moving to the BMC Racing Team next season, while both Vanendert and Van den Broeck will be part of Lotto-Ridley.
Asked whether the mountains classification will be a target for next year, he said he wasn’t sure as yet. “It is too early to talk about the polka dot jersey, but it may well turn out to be a goal.”