Belgian Cycling named Serge Pauwels as the replacement for outgoing national coach Sven Vanthourenhout on Wednesday.
The former pro has been working as the Belgian federation’s junior national team’s coach and as assistant to Vanthourenhout for the past four years. He will take over managing the elite and under-23 teams, while Angelo De Clercq was named as coach for the national cyclocross team and will take over from Pauwels as junior road coach.
“I am extremely honoured to take on this role, especially now that we have one of the strongest generations of Belgians ever,” Pauwels said according to Sporza. “I want to create an ideal environment for both the riders and the staff so that we can excel as a team.
“I am also looking forward to having the juniors I have worked with in recent seasons back in the team in the higher categories in the coming years so that I can continue to experience their journey.”
Pauwels takes over from the hugely successful Vanthourenhout, who led the team to three men’s elite world titles and two Olympic gold medals won by Remco Evenepoel in addition to the two road titles won by Lotte Kopecky.
Belgian Cycling’s chairman Tom Van Damme said he wants the country to maintain its level of success in the coming years.
“We are convinced that we can sustain this with this new structure. There will certainly be no cutbacks in top-level sport within our operations,” Van Damme said.
The federation selected Pauwels rather than former Classics star Philippe Gilbert, who expressed his interest in the position but complained on Instagram about the selection process.
“I was hoping to become a national road cycling coach, to share my experience and passion with the current generation,” Gilbert wrote. “However, the position was never opened up, and Belgian cycling’s internal agreements prevented me from applying. I’d like to thank the many riders who showed their enthusiasm, and the countless people who supported me.”
De Clercq has been working as a temporary national coach following Vanthourenhout’s departure and feels comfortable taking over the lead roles for the cyclocross and junior road teams.
“We have seen in recent years that good cyclo-cross riders have developed into good road cyclists. We would like to maintain the Belgian cyclo-cross culture of the past decades and further develop and improve it,” De Clercq said.
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