Kamiel Bonneu (Flanders-Baloise): “I was not riding alone today”

August 6 ^th 2024 - 19:46

Yesterday I got the sad news that my grandfather had passed away. He was the reason I started cycling in the first place. There was no possibility of going home, so I wanted to give my everything today. I knew I was in good shape, so I believed I stood a small chance of winning if all the pieces fell into place. I was not riding alone today, and everything did fall on the right place indeed. I’m very happy I made both my grandfathers proud today, as I lost both of them in just three months. I just hope they watched the race together, somewhere.

I knew the first two kilometers of the climb were the hardest, and it was better for me to attack already there as I don’t think I could have managed to win from a sprint. I saw nobody reacted to our first move, and then I had some legs to race even harder into the final. When I saw De Pretto was on his limit, I just went full gas all the way to the finish.

I will give my best again tomorrow, hoping it will be enough to claim the overall win. I will definitely not beat Magnus Cort on a bonus sprint, so I will have to do it in the uphill finish. Maybe I have a small chance, but a climb like that suits him better. We will see where we get… but, at the end of the day, I will be happy anyway with this race.