DANNY VAN POPPEL
LottoNL's Dutch sprinter on his best and worst grand tours and crashing on the cobbles
What’s your favourite race? Milan-San Remo. I always watched it when I was young and my heart rate was really high. It’s always a really nice race and I think my qualities as a rider suit it, I hope I can win it in the future. What’s your favourite climb? I live in Holland and we have no mountains. Maybe somewhere in Belgium like in the Classics – the Paterberg. That one is really cool. I’ve ridden it in training. I prefer short, steep climbs. Who is the best domestique in the peloton? Luke Rowe. He was always a really good team-mate. When I was with Sky he knew exactly how to put me in the right position. You really need to know when you need to be in the front, and you need to understand the game a little in the final. He knows it perfectly. It’s special: not a lot of riders have got that feeling. Who is your funniest team-mate? It was Wout Poels for sure. He’s a good friend of mine. I was with him in Sky and he’s really funny. It’s always a good atmosphere with him and that’s important. What result are you proudest of so far in your career? The Vuelta stage, my first grand tour win in 2015, was a really nice victory. It was stage 12, we were in the second week and I was suffering a lot because it was only uphill finishes or really hard stages. In the whole Vuelta there were only two
"I have a scar on my leg from a crash in the Tour. I crashed into Valverde and his big ring went into my leg"
sprint stages. I had a flat tyre but I came back, and I surprised myself that I won. I was going better every day. Who will win the Tour de France in five years’ time? I think Tom Dumoulin. He’s got a really good time trial. That’s his really powerful weapon and he can climb. What was the last app you downloaded? It was the AirEuropa app before I flew to Spain for the Clásica de Almería. It’s true, I am always in airports but I never fly with this airline. What’s the best prize you’ve ever won at a race? I remember I got a lot of strawberries when I won a race as a junior, because they were famous in that town. It was in Hoogstraten in Belgium. I got a really big bag – it was a lot! What’s the toughest day you’ve had on the bike? I did the Tour de France when I was 19, so I didn’t have a big engine and I was suffering. I remember a few days in the mountains when I was dropped, but I was still in the grupetto. Everybody told me I would be out of the race in the first week, but I wanted to show that it was not true. That was the reason I kept going. As a rider you always try to fight. What’s the story behind one of your scars? I have one on my right leg from a crash in the Tour de France in 2014, on the epic cobblestones stage when Lars Boom won. I crashed into Valverde and his big ring went into my leg. I thought it was not a bad injury as it didn’t feel so painful, but after the race I looked and it was really deep. Who’s your favourite person to follow on Instagram? In Holland we have something like the LadBible, called Dumpert. It’s always full of really funny things.