<\/p>\n
“I still haven’t received any clarity from my team
\nwhether I will be allowed to stay in 2026,\u201d De Bondt admitted. \u201cSo it seemed
\nlike a good idea to market myself during the Giro.”<\/p>\n
Behind the scenes, De Bondt had already reached out to other
\nteams. One of them was EF Education\u2013EasyPost, home to Richard Carapaz. \u201cI did
\nthe same with Ken Vanmarcke,\u201d he said, referring to EF\u2019s team manager. \u201c’If
\nyou’re still looking for riders for 2026: I’m on the market’, I told him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vanmarcke’s response came just before the penultimate stage.
\n“He said: ‘Are you planning anything today? It’s going to be very
\ndifficult for us to send riders into the early breakaway. But look: if you’re
\nin there and you can play a role somewhere that’s important in the final result
\nof the Giro, then something serious can come from that.’ That inspired me to do
\nwhat I did for Carapaz.\u201d<\/p>\n
So when the opportunity came, De Bondt acted. With Del Toro
\nand Carapaz losing time to Yates, 22 seconds adrift, he hit the front, towing
\nthe duo up the lower slopes of the Finestre.<\/p>\n
\u201cI brought them back to within eight seconds of Yates,\u201d De
\nBondt explained. \u201cBut after three minutes of giving it my all, I was of course
\nout of the running. At 73 kilos, my wattages were a lot higher than those of
\nthe climbers. They could see Yates riding, he wasn’t even that far ahead. I had
\nhoped that they had the brains and the legs to close the gap. Then the game
\ncould start again. But that wasn\u2019t possible anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
His act raised eyebrows, drawing questions from fans and
\npundits alike. But that, he says, was the whole point. \u201cAfter that action, I
\ngot a lot of questions about why I did that. And that was exactly what I
\nwanted, because it made it clear to everyone that I am on the market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether the bold gesture results in a contract with EF
\nremains to be seen. \u201cThey only have to give me a contract if they are convinced
\nthat they can use me there,\u201d De Bondt said. \u201cIf they bring me to the table with
\nthe right people to talk to, that is already a victory in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite a solid season and experience at the highest level,
\nDe Bondt finds himself in limbo, an increasingly common story in the modern
\ntransfer market. \u201cEveryone I tell that I do not have clarity yet is taken
\naback. For someone who has no inside information, it seems obvious that they
\nare going to extend me. But that is not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Belgian believes he may be the victim of circumstance.
\n\u201cI think I am the victim of the arrival of other riders,\u201d he said, referencing
\nthe incoming signings of Tiesj Benoot and Olav Kooij. \u201cAnd those guys also
\nbring people with them. That means there are fewer spots left, and then the
\nteam has to think hard about how they want to fill the remaining spots. It is
\nnot easy for the team to extend everyone who is out of contract.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“I still haven’t received any clarity from my team whether I will be allowed to stay in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-161910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114634311852865886","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}