Wout Poels (Team Sky) can look back on the 2015 season with great pleasure after taking two victories and helping his teammate Chris Froome to his second Tour de France title. After what has been a breakthrough year for the Dutchman, he is looking for even more in 2016.
It’s been a long old season for Poels. After opening his racing account at the Tour of Oman in February, he was finally able to put his feet up following the Saitama Criterium at the end of October. The event in Japan, hosted by the Tour de France organisers, was a fun way to finish what was a largely successful season for the affable Dutchman – even if it ended with his teammate Ian Boswell having some fun at his jet-lagged expense.
Poels’ route to success has not been an easy one. In 2012, he crashed out of his second Tour de France in a mass pile-up into Metz which resulted in a three-week stay in hospital with ruptured kidney and spleen, a bruised lung, and three broken ribs. He worked hard and came back the following season and since then he has hinted at his underlying talent but 2015 is definitely his best year to date.
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“It was really nice. I had my own success but then also with Chris [Froome] in the Tour. It was a nice experience to be a part of that," Poels told Cyclingnews. "I’m really happy with my first year with Team Sky, it’s been a great season. I think I made a big step this year and I hope that it can continue into next season.”
Poels was brought into Team Sky for 2015 to bolster Froome’s support network at the Tour de France. After three previous appearances where he was almost given a free rein to do as he wished, it would be the first time that he would be at the beck and call of the potential winner. The expectations were very different and the attention surrounding the team was more than he’d ever experienced.
He stepped up to the plate though and was ever present by his leader’s side, especially during the final week in the Alps where things could have so easily gone belly up for the team. There was other, less wanted, attention that had to be dealt with too but Poels – who always appears to be smiling – prefers to look on the brighter side of things.
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