Jelle Vanendert surprised that Vuelta performance doesn’t buy him a trip to the Worlds

by Ben Atkins at 11:52 AM EST

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Categories: Pro Cycling, Vuelta a España, World Championships

Belgian feels that Spanish form should earn him a trip to Australia

OmegaPharma-Lotto’s Jelle Vanendert rode strongly in yesterday’s ninth stage of the Vuelta a España, getting himself into the break and staying away to finish 10th. He may have done better in the end, but opted to ride for teammate Jean-Christophe Péraud in his attempt to take the red jersey. In the end though, Péraud finished up 52 seconds short, but Vanendert feels that his performance in the race so far should put him in contention for a place in the Belgian team for the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia next month.

“I think that maybe I have earned selection,” the 25-year-old from Neerpelt, Limburg told Het Belang Van Limburg, “but I’ve heard that coach Carlo Bomans has ultimately opted not to take me.

“I don’t know what else I need to do to show my best,” he continued, “because I’m riding a good Vuelta. Every day I’m getting better, so I went along in that break.”

With the peloton a long way behind, the stage winner was sure to come from the breakaway group, he elected to ride for Péraud instead of himself though.

“If I had decided to ride for myself I would have had a chance for the stage win,” he said, “instead I went all out to try to get the jersey for Péraud. Unfortuantely that failed.”

OmegaPharma-Lotto is enjoying an excellent start to the Vuelta, with Philippe Gilbert winning stage 3 and holding the red jersey for five days, and Péraud now rising to fifth. As well as yesterday, Vanendert got himself into the long break on stage 3, although he currently sits in 90th place in the overall classification.

One reason that Vanendert has been passed over by the Belgian selectors is that he has sat out most of the current season with knee injury. He began the year well with good results in the Trofeo Mallorca races in February, then finished ninth on stage 1 of the Ruta del Sol; he was involved in a crash on stage 2 though, injuring his knee.

The next race that the 25-year-old finished was the Clasica San Sebastian, more than five months after he sustained the injury; he will likely not have been on the national team’s radar until this week.

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