Johnny Hoogerland to represent Netherlands at the London Olympics
Johnny Hoogerland is keen to make an impact at the London Olympics 2011 after having a mixed 2011 season. The Dutch cyclist had a wonderful performance in Tour de France 2011 as he wore the mountain jersey for four stages, 6, 7, 9 and 11.
He was involved in a horrific crash during the stage 9 of the Tour where he ended up on the barbed-wire fence after being hit by a French television car.
The cyclist received 33 stitches on the wound and consequently, tremendous love from the supporters.
Despite the injuries, he managed to maintain the lead and defended his king of mountains jersey in the 11th stage.
He commented after winning stage 11, "It is you who say it, I don’t feel like a star. I’m just very happy that I’m still in the jersey and still in the race. That was my goal for today – surviving".
He told cyclingnews, “I also performed well in the Classics, particularly the Amstel Gold Race, but there was no big win for me and that was a pain. It's something I'm definitely looking at correcting next year".
The 28-year-old commented on the coming season, mentioning that he is still training for the 2012 season and that he will start the season a little late next year.
He said, “I’ll be going off to train with the team in December for ten days and then more in January. I'll start my season at the Tour of Algarve, which is later than normal for me. It's going to be a long season with the Olympics and the Worlds and it'll
hard to keep going into those final months. So I need to keep plenty in reserve”.
It is believed that the Dutch cyclist will target the classics as he has shown interest in riding at the La Fleche Wallone, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Amstel Gold Tour in 2012 season.
He will then have a go at the bigger events, mainly 2012 Tour de France and London Olympics. The cyclist mentioned that representing his country at the Olympics was amongst his biggest dreams and he will give it his best shot.
Hoogerland will have a busy 2012 season and one thing he must avoid is the crashes, like the one that nearly ended his career during the Tour de France 2011.
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