Dylan Van Baarle might have surprised himself when he won the Tour of Britain last year, but he returns to defend his title this weekend with a greater understanding of the race and of his own potential and ambitions.
The 23-year-old, now in his second season at WorldTour level with Cannondale-Garmin, is looking forward to revisiting the scene of the biggest win of his career to date.
"It was a really big win for me and still the best result of my career,” the Dutchman told the Tour of Britain website. “The victory earned a lot of coverage at home. Not only was the race watched quite a bit on the TV but the fact that I ended up ahead of big name riders like Kwiatkowski and Wiggins attracted extra attention.
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“Off the back of that result I earned a place in the Netherlands team for the World Championships so I have nothing but good memories of the 2014 Tour of Britain.”
Few predicted Van Baarle would emerge as the overall winner last year, and he was surprised as anyone, having known next to nothing about the nature of the race going into it. He made the most of his aggressive approach to make it into the break on the long stage 7 to Brighton before defending his lead on the final-day split stage, which required him to hold off the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Michal Kwiatkowski against the clock.
"I didn't ever set out with the target of winning the race as such but the team raced aggressively and I kept my nose towards the front most days and quickly realised that it was actually a race in which almost anything could happen,” said Van Baarle.
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