Julie De Wilde, the 21-year-old Belgian cyclist, is looking forward to her last World Championship in the under-23 category. Speaking to Sporza at the pre-World Championships Belgian team press conference, she revealed her excitement: “I’m really looking forward to it.”
De Wilde, somewhat overshadowed by her compatriot Lotte Kopecky, will start the time trial on Sunday. She sees potential for a medal, having finished 6th last year. “It’s my last time in the under-23 category, which adds extra motivation. I want to make the most of it, and I have high ambitions,” she explained.
Despite her optimism, De Wilde admits it has been a while since her last serious time trial. “Okay, I rode a time trial in the Tour de France Femmes, but that was only 6 kilometres. You can’t really compare that to the World Championships, which is much longer. I haven’t done this kind of effort this year, so it’s a bit of a question mark. But I’ll do my best.”
Challenging Year and Preparation
This year has presented its challenges for De Wilde. After a significant crash in the sprint finish at the Antwerp Port Epic Ladies this year, she was sidelined for three months. “I couldn’t race for three months, and it took a long time before I could do anything intense. During that period, I didn’t spend much time on my time trial bike,” she shared. However, once she knew she would be participating in the World Championships, she focused on specific training sessions with her time trial bike.
When asked about her expectations for Sunday, De Wilde noted the difficulty of the course. “It’s a pretty tough course with those climbs. The last section is completely flat. Usually, I do better when it’s a bit up and down. It’s a challenging time trial, but I like it. Haha, whether I’m fresher than the others? We’ll see on Sunday,” she laughed.
