Belgian rider Stijn Devolder (Discovery Channel) is riding himself into form in the Vuelta with an eye on the world championships in Salzburg, where he is down to do both the time trial and the road race. He currently sits in 14th place overall in the Vuelta, but has shown himself to be in excellent climbing form. His role up until now has been to look after his other teammates better placed on GC.
In the upcoming world championships, "Top five in the time trial is my next goal," said Devolder to Sportwereld, but qualified that by saying that he expected a result "around tenth place."
"I was happy when coach Carlo Bomans told me the good news last week. If I come out of the Vuelta just as good as last year, then I can be close in the world's." Devolder didn't believe doing both the time trial and the road race would be too much. "There are two full days in between. That should be enough if you're in form. I find it quite an honour that I may ride this double, and that I can once more try to help Tom Boonen and our country to the world title."
Devolder also commented on his team tactics in the recent mountain stages, where he and Danielson had to wait for race leader Janez Brajkovic on the climb to Alto de La Cobertoria. "You curse under your breath once in a while. You are sitting there with good legs, but this is part of my job. Ultimately, Brajkovic was the leader and you never leave him to his fate. In another case, I could have finished much closer on the Alto de Cobertoria. I felt that I was one of the five best climbers, and that they couldn't have dropped me. Together with Danielson, I waited for Brajkovic. The American even started in Malaga as leader."
