The Luxemburg national team have found themselves in huge difficulties ahead of the World Championship road race held in Ponferrada on September 28. Jempy Drucker was expected to line-up in the event after both Bob Jungels and Frank Schleck (Trek Factory Racing) were forced to withdraw, but Wanty-Groupe Gobert rider openly claimed to be offended by not being initially selected and thus refused to participate.
“No, I’m not going there,” Drucker told Quotidien. “They weren’t fair with me after I’d proved that I deserved to be selected with my performances throughout this season. The course is not entirely hard and when you check other line-ups, all teams have included fast guys.”
Apart from purely emotional reasons for refusing to participate in World Championships, Drucker had also slightly more reasonable arguments to back his decision. The Wanty -Gruope Gobert rider, who will join BMC Racing for 2015 season, explained that he wouldn’t be properly prepared for the event as he didn’t expect to be selected and thus has taken it easy with his trainings. He added, however, that he would have been highly motivated if he had been initially chosen.
“I read in the press that Baldinger [Luxemburg national team coach] was in contact with the riders and as I hasn’t heard from him I knew that I wouldn’t be chosen. Eventually he told me that the course was too hard, but I think that finishing the Tour of Luxembourg in second place is an evidence of having some climbing skills,” Drucker concluded.
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