Wout Poels

This guy from the Dutch province of Limburg was already involved in the team when it still only had a continental status. Wout Poels consciously opted for a future at Vacansoleil-DCM and both the rider and the team have not had a moment's regret about that. Last year Poels had his definitive breakthrough as a climber in two extremely heavy mountain stages in the Vuelta; with a second place he only just missed the win of the day. Had Poels been able to better acclimatize in the heat at the beginning of the Tour of Spain, he certainly would have been able to do better than the already very handsome seventeenth place with which he left this tour. Overall Poels came second four times in a stage of a World Tour in 2011; for 2012 we await the first big victory. Last year Poels won a stage in the Tour de l’Ain, but the biggest victory is that he was able to establish that there were few riders who could better him when racing up a steep road.