Daan Hoole takes on bigger role this spring and targets Tour de France debut
Daan Hoole has not missed the start of the season. The Dutch time trial champion immediately finished fifth in his first test against the clock on Tuesday at the UAE Tour and took the lead on the first uphill finish the following day. That bodes well for the coming spring for the towering South Holland rider, who will have a free role at Decathlon CMA CGM. He tells WielerFlits.
This coming Sunday, the UAE Tour 2026 will definitely end with a celebration for Hoole, as he will be turning 27. The time trial specialist is now in the prime of his life in terms of age. Partly for that reason, he consciously chose to move from Lidl-Trek to his new French team. Daantje was a highly valued member of his former team, but Hoole wants to find out if he has already reached his ceiling. He spent several sessions on the track this past winter to further refine his time trial position. Everything they could think of with his team was tested at that time.
That immediately paid off with a fifth place at the UAE Tour. Last year, he placed 25th in the same time trial, but three months later he won the individual time trial in the Giro d’Italia. “Of course, I’m now working with a different coach,” he tells our camera. “With him, I’ve started training in a slightly different way. He is very scientific. My previous coach (Matthias Reck at Lidl-Trek, ed.) was more about practical work: just training hard and a lot. Now there’s more explanation and more specific exercises. So we’ll see how that works out.”
Free role in the classics
In recent years, Hoole was, as mentioned, a valued part of his old team, where classics leader Mads Pedersen often led the way with him. The focus was entirely on the Dane, but Decathlon CMA CGM doesn’t have a rider of that caliber. “I don’t have to ride at the front so fast anymore or position anyone. Of course, we have Tiesj (Benoot, ed.) and other strong riders. So if I don’t perform well or can’t get far enough in the race, that free role will naturally become a supporting role. But initially, I am free.”
“I will try to get a bit deeper into the finale and especially be a bit fresher,” continues Hoole, who normally counts on Olav Kooij as a leader in some classics. However, Kooij is currently sidelined with a virus, and there’s no indication yet when he’ll return to competition. “In races like the GP de Denain and also Paris-Roubaix, I will get my own chance. The team will support me then. That’s of course totally different than last year. That’s a big change because this will mean a completely different way of racing for me.”
So he has to think more about himself. “In recent years, I was always focused on where my leader was, whether he was sheltered from the wind, whether he was where he wanted to be, when to lead him forward, and so on. Now I have to decide myself when to ride forward and how to do that with as little energy expenditure as possible. I think I can go very far in Roubaix. Last year I also sprinted for a top ten place on the Velodrome. In the Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem, and Dwars Door Vlaanderen, that remains to be seen. I’m not really explosive and I don’t have much of a sprint. I’ll probably have to try for results more from a breakaway in those.”
Getting the sprint train on track
This week at the UAE Tour, Decathlon CMA CGM came close to a stage win with their new sprint train. Lead-out man Cees Bol finished second in the opening stage. The work the team did looked good, but Kooij is still missing for the reason mentioned above. “I am the first man in the sprint train. I have to choose the moment and basically do the dirtiest work to shield the guys from the wind, to bring them as fresh as possible into the last one and a half to last kilometer. I can ride hard on flat terrain and I’m tall, so I can shelter them well. I often did that for Jonathan Milan and Pedersen, so I have that experience.”
According to Hoole, he can do that well, but the brand-new train of Kooij will still need some lessons. He himself, Robbe Ghys, Bol, and Kooij last year raced for four different teams. “But we do know what we can do for each other. Basically, it’s only about fine-tuning to get used to each other a bit and find out how best to deliver Olav and how he wants it. Of course, we will make mistakes, and in some races it won’t go well yet. But the goal is to pick that up as quickly and as well as possible.”
Decathlon CMA CGM has publicly stated the green jersey as their ambition for the upcoming Tour de France. As part of Kooij’s sprint train, that also means a Tour debut is in sight for Hoole. “Yes, that would be great. Winning the points classification is a very ambitious goal. Olav will mainly rely on mass sprints and intermediate sprints in flat stages. He’s not a rider like Pedersen who joins breakaways to score points between mountains. But Milan wasn’t that kind of rider last year either, and he still won green. It’s possible.”
Tour debut
“Normally, I’m insistent on racing the Tour,” continues the Dutch rider. “I have to prove myself and show that I am in good shape and can fulfill my role. That brings some pressure. But now I have more certainty that I will ride the Tour than last year. When signing my contract here, I already knew the option was very real. That was also one of the main reasons I changed teams. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy Lidl-Trek anymore or didn’t fit there well. But here I have a bit more freedom and definitely the chance to ride the Tour. That’s the big race you looked forward to as a kid.”
After riding the Giro three times and the Vuelta a España twice, Hoole adds that it’s time for the Tour. He is certainly very ambitious for 2026. “My season will be successful if I can compete again for victories in time trials, if I feel stronger than a year ago, if I can race in the finale in Roubaix, and if the sprint train achieves a lot of success, especially in the Tour. Then it’s been a good year, I think. In the fall, the European and World Time Trial Championships are also very big goals for me. But generally, it’s about winning a lot of races.”
