South Africa’s Louis Meintjes is looking for his first podium in a UCI WorldTour event after cementing his status as a top general classification rider at the Tour de France last month.
Fresh from placing eighth overall and second in the white jersey competition, the UAE Team Emirates rider said he’d been happy with his result at the Grande Boucle.
“It was another consistent performance at the Tour. Sometimes you think you might have been lucky or that it was a once-off so it’s nice to go back and know you can repeat results,” he said.
Meintjes, who finished 10th at the Vuelta a España two years ago, confirmed he would start the Spanish event later this month and said he hoped to ride onto the podium.
Louis Meintjes, pictured here during the 12th stage of the Tour de France, is looking to reach new heights after finishing eighth overall at the Tour. Photo: Luca Bettini/BettiniPhoto
“I still haven’t won a race so there’s still a lot of space for improvement. If I can get on the podium once it will be nice.
“I haven’t been on a WorldTour podium for anything, so even if I get most aggressive rider of the day it will be an accomplishment,” he said.
Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali, Fabio Aru, Romain Bardet, Warren Barguil, the Yates brothers and Alberto Contador – who will be retiring afterwards – are just some of the big names that will be at the start and Meintjes acknowledged he had his work cut out for him.
“It’s going to be a good field lining up so it’s going to be super hard.
“Some guys skipped the Giro d’Italia to prepare for the Tour and some even skipped the Tour to prepare for the Vuelta. Now there’s nothing left so everyone is coming fully prepared, not holding anything back.”
The 25-year-old was positive about his form and said his training had been going well after racing the Clásica de San Sebastián the weekend after the Tour.
“I feel recovered but you never know. If you’re just lacking one or two per cent then you won’t be in the front group anymore.”
Meintjes said he’d been happy with how the team had supported him in the Alps during the Tour and was looking forward to the eight “hilly” and five mountain stages that loomed at the Vuelta.
“In the mountain stages I had everything I needed so I can’t complain or say it’s because of a lack of support that I didn’t perform.”
He added that while better support was always welcome, it wasn’t easy to make comparisons between teams.
“You either ride for the best team or you’re somewhere behind,” he said.
The cycling transfer window officially opened nine days after the 21-day event concluded in Paris and Meintjes’ name is one of those with a question mark alongside it.
While he would not confirm his plans for the future, he said he would “most likely be moving on” but there were “a million factors to consider” before taking the plunge.
Besides the structure and “vibe” of the team, he said the race programme and riders were important factors in his decision-making.
“If I join a team like Sky I would probably be working for someone else. And that’s if I even get the opportunity to ride the Tour.”
