Poels ready for Dauphine challenge

After a flying start to 2016 Wout Poels is ready to resume his campaign at the prestigious Criterium du Dauphine.

After a flying start to 2016 Wout Poels is ready to resume his campaign at the prestigious Criterium du Dauphine.

Team Sky have enjoyed a superb record in the French stage race, which is well known as a great indicator of form ahead of July's Tour de France. Part of the winning team 12 months ago, Poels will again play a key role as he joins Chris Froome in a strong eight-man lineup.

On the eve of the race we caught up with the 28-year-old Dutchman for an update on the team's Tenerife training camp, Olympic selection and life as a Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner.

Hi Wout. The last time you raced you took a memorable victory at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. What have you been up to since?

Yeah it feels like quite a long time ago since Liege I'm really looking forward to racing again. I had a small break after that race and then I worked really hard out in Tenerife with the team at our training camp. Now it's time for the Dauphine - I'm ready for it and it's nice to be back in the saddle again.

You've already bagged five victories this year - did a part of you want to keep racing after Liege - or did you know it was time to get ready for a busy summer?

After Liege is was already the plan to have a break. I'd started my season in Valencia, so quite early. It wasn't a super busy programme, but if you're also doing the Ardennes, and preparing to head off to an altitude camp, it was nice to take a little break of one week. That allowed me to recharge the batteries again and then train full gas. It's such an important period now - starting with the Dauphine, the Tour and then the Olympics - you have to be ready for it, especially mentally in your head.

Sure if you're winning races you think you can do anything. But it's always good to have a really good condition, take a break and then start up again. Everything is a bit easier after that.

Is life any different now since that Monument win?

Not really to be honest. I think maybe a few more people recognise me now - but not the other day. I had a flat tyre, and the tyre I changed it to also needed a small repair. So I went to a bike shop just 10 kilometres from my house. I replaced the tyre and the guy from the shop came out and said "hey you're looking good, you almost could be in the Tour de France!" And I said "yeah, I'm doing it" and he looked really flabbergasted! He had no idea who I was (laughs).

How was the Tenerife training camp? Did you and the team get a lot of good work done?

We always train hard out there. We did plenty of kilometres and lots of climbing, but we had a really nice camp and a good group out there - riders and staff members. I think everybody had a good camp, trained well and took good care of themselves. As a team we're definitely ready for this next block of racing.

So with just short of six weeks out of racing, what are your expectations for the Dauphine?

The race starts with a really hard uphill prologue. So that's maybe not the best start to have for anyone but hopefully it will go well. In Valencia I managed to perform well in the opening TT of the race, so hopefully I can do that again. We'll see how the legs are.

The Dauphine team is incredibly strong - that must be quite exciting to be a part of?

Yeah we have a really strong lineup for the Dauphine. It's always nice to go into a race with a team like that. It gives you confidence and hopefully we can do a great job.

Congratulations on your recent Olympic call-up for the Dutch team. Is that another big target, especially because it's a good course for you?

Yeah it was a big goal to go the Olympics. That's why I did all the Ardennes Classics this year. The Tour de France is a really good race to do because if you are going well at the Tour then you're in good shape (for the Olympics). Last year I came really well out of the Tour and hopefully this year will be the same.