What a start to a professional career that would have been. Tour de France 2024, stage 1. Frank van den Broek sets off together with his captain Romain Bardet. He joins the breakaway group early on. When Bardet catches up, the dsm duo leaves the rest behind and aims for the coup. The young Dutchman chauffeurs his boss to the finish line and then lets him pass. Yellow for the 34-year-old Frenchman, who had announced a few days earlier that he would be retiring next summer. The Grand Nation is rejoicing.
For Bardet, it was his last chance to shine again at the Tour. For van den Broek, who was allowed to wear the white jersey, it was his first. But the way the 23-year-old made his mark that day, it would be a big surprise if he didn't get another one. In the Netherlands, they are longing for someone who could once again celebrate great success in the Tour of France, as Joop Zoetemelk, the 1980 winner, once did. Tom Dumolin, Robert Gesink, Bauke Mollema, Steven Kruijswijk and Wilco Kelderman all made it into the top 10 a few years ago, but the big success never materialised.
Van den Broek celebrates first professional victories in Turkey
It is unlikely that van den Broek will win the Tour at some point. But at the moment he is the greatest promise of the Dutch. At least for performances in the mountains that inspire fantasies. Just like Thymen Arensman did two years ago, but since then - also plagued by serious crashes - he seems to be treading water.
Before the Tour, van den Broek had already completed five tours and all kinds of classics, including the Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Strade Bianche and the Amstel Gold Race. He collected a total of 85 race days and 13,000 kilometres of racing in his season as a neo-pro. Yet he had barely completed a year at continental level.
While the classics were primarily on his programme to gain experience, van den Broek mainly generated points for his team in the tours. At the Tour of Türkiye, he even scored his first two victories as a professional. In addition to the stage win on the queen stage on the Sipylos mountain at an altitude of over 1200 metres with a 15 kilometre long final climb, the man from Warmond, located between Amsterdam and The Hague not too far from the North Sea dyke, also secured the overall classification.
First World Cup feeling after a long neo-season
Nevertheless, his form peaked in the summer. After the Tour, he was also able to impress again at the Tour of Denmark. Even though racing against the clock has not been his strong point so far: As part of the team, he won the team time trial at the start, on this basis he later finished seventh overall. After that, the air was a little thin - regardless of the fact that van den Broek, as a neo, primarily had helper duties and did not regularly slip into the protected roles.
He made his way to the two sister races in Canada to work for Bardet again. Shortly afterwards, his captain was Mathieu van der Poel. This was also the first time in his career that van den broek was allowed to compete in a world championship, something he had never done in either the junior or U23 categories. However, he was unable to finish the race and got off his bike after the work was done.
However, his season, which began in early February with the Muscat Classic in Oman, was still not over. Frank van den Broek continued until Gran Piemonte in mid-October. In the meantime, the frequent rider has already returned to his training camp in Spain.
