Johnny Hoogerland sets eyes on World Championships and London Olympics for 2012 season
Johnny Hoogerland is targeting the 2012 World Championships, he mentioned that he will race at selected events to ensure his best for the Worlds event. The cyclist has also shared that London Olympics will be his second big target for the season ahead.
He told Gazzetta dello Sport, “It’s an Olympic year and the Worlds are in Valkenburg in Holland, so I’ll start racing later than normal”.
Hoogerland admitted that he raced too much in 2011 and has decided to be more selective in the coming season.
He won the Mijl van Mares, along with a 3rd overall win at Etoile de Besseges and a 4th place finish at Brabantse Pijl 2011.
The 28-year-old won the stage 9 at Tour de France 2011 and also held the mountains classifications jersey for five stages, stage 6, 7,9,10 and 11.
He was looking good at the French grand tour but was unfortunate as he ended up in a crash.
He was struck by a French Television car that also hit Antonio Flecha. Hoogerland went flying on the barbed wire fence.
He faced deep cuts on his legs and received as many as 33 stitches overall. Despite the crash, he managed to finish the stage and was awarded with the Combativity award.
He said, “I pulled the barbed wire from my flesh, got back on my bike and crashed the line, injured and bloodied. Then I hung tough and finished the Tour”.
However, the Dutch professional cyclist stated that he did not want people to remember him as the “barbed wire guy”.
His overall career highlights include a first place finish at the Tour of Flanders 2001, and a 12th place finish at the Vuelta a Espana 2009.
He also finished 5th at the Giro di Lombardia, along with a 14th place finish at the UCI Road World Championships.
Hoogerland’s courageous performance helped Team Vacansoleil-DCM at its first grand tour appearance. The team’s inclusion at the Tour de France 2012 has not been finalised but it will be announced shortly.
Johnny also mentioned, “In comparison to 2011, I want to race a bit less. By the end of Tour, I had done 90 days of racing. In total I did over 120 days. Too many. In 2012, I’d like to do 80 at the most”.
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