After the arrival of Pieter Vanspeybrouck as a new sports director, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert can now also rely on the expertise of sports dietitian Jana Camphens and trainer Ioannis Tamouridis within the performance team which is directed by Aike Visbeek. Both reinforce the team behind the scenes in the prolongation of the collaboration they started with the World Team at the beginning of 2021.
Nutrition is an increasingly important part of the team’s performance strategy and therefore Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert reinforces the collaboration with sports dietitian Jana Camphens, who teams up with nutritionist Adam Plucinski. During her career, Jana worked with high-level athletes at the Centre for Sports Medecine of UZ Ghent, the Bakala Academy and EnergyLab. Together, Jana Camphens and Adam Plucinski establish individual nutrition strategies for all riders, aligned with the goals and race calendar which are defined by the performance team. The riders of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert already took advantage of this expertise in 2021 and a more narrow collaboration has been set up in the approach of next season.
Former professional rider Ioannis Tamouridis is the most decorated Greek rider in history thanks to multiple national titles, two World Championship medals on the track and participations in the Olympic road races in London and Rio de Janeiro. In the colors of Euskaltel-Euskadi he was the first rider of his nation to participate in several monuments or to finish a Grand Tour. After his career as a rider, Tamouridis became coach of the Cypriot national team and the SEG Racing Academy. In 2021 the habitant of Thessaloniki was already involved and will henceforth be a part of the team of trainers directed by Frederik Veuchelen.
« All of us have been working very hard last season to step up to the World Tour and I’m proud on what we achieved with our resources during our first year. Our successes the past months and our 14th place in the team ranking were only possible thanks to the devotion of all. Our goal is to become a stable element of the World Tour in the future. In order to reach this, we continue to build the team. Not only by strengthening our line up, but also by extending the team in support of the riders. I’m very happy that we got a jump on this and that we could expand the performance team, so we can focus our energy on details which can make a difference. Ioannis Tamouridis joined Frederik Veuchelen as a trainer and we now work intensively with sports dietitians Jana Camphens and Adam Plucinski. Pieter Vanspeybrouck is our new sports director with experience in sprint trains. He will join the performance team which is redesigned to make sure that the qualities and experience of all members come into their own and connect seamlessly. Also our close connections with our technical partners are growing and these interactions yield marginal gains. I’m convinced that we’re on the right way for season 2022! »
« I witnessed an incredible evolution since I was first connected to Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert as a rider in 2014 and as a trainer afterwards. The step to the World Tour was probably the most important one and required a scale-up of the support team. The hard work of all involved people and the expansion of the performance team clearly bore fruit past season. So I’m pleased that we continue to invest in a more extensive coaching of our riders in the future. After last year’s excellent collaborations it was a logical consequence to involve Ioannis Tamouridis and Jana Camphens more in the project. Ioannis and I are on the same wavelength in terms of training methods and Jana has already reached clear results with her valuable input about nutrition. It is interesting that the contributions to the performance team come from an increasing number of different angles, so we complement each other better and better. Also our riders are enthusiastic about the fact that they can rely on a large team behind the scenes! »
« It is a pleasure to be a part of this growing project! The riders are developing an in-depth knowledge of sports nutrition after going through the basics last year. We can definitely say that our work bore fruit as several riders performed better thanks to the adaptation of their eating patterns. Furthermore, we saw a better digestion of the drinks and energetic products thanks to our collaboration with our hydration partner Maurten, without forgetting our long relationship with our nutrition partner 3Action. The focus on nutrition is progressively intensified, so all riders henceforth receive an individual guidance. This means that Adam and I follow all of them from nearby and dovetail their eating patterns and the strategy of the performance team. Furthermore, we individualize the race nutrition strategies and test new recipes with the chefs and paramedical staff. The eagerness to learn and great enthusiasm of the riders and staff learned me that it will be an interesting season! »
« I’m pleased with the confidence of the performance team after a first collaboration last year, during which I contributed to the preparation of the altitude training camps and coached four riders. I experience the opportunity to train all riders of the World Team on a full time basis as a great compliment and I especially want to thank Aike Visbeek for relying on me for building his projects since we first worked together within the SEG Racing Academy. Striving for success with Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert’s line up is the perfect outlet for my ambition after my active career as a rider. It is probably thanks to our similar vision about training that Frederik Veuchelen and I are working well together from day one within Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert. We combine our expertise and both follow the scientific development of training methods thanks to the support of the Centre for Sports Medicine of UZ Ghent in order to make the best decisions for our riders. In addition, the great atmosphere between staff and riders makes it unique to work in this environment! »
