Former Visma rider tells a funny story about winning a stage at the Giro: “That night Wout van Aert texted me to say he’s proud of how I handled it.”

The Giro d’Italia 2022 was Koen Bouwman’s most important race. After coming in 12th place in the classification the previous year, Bouwman proved how good he was by winning two stages and the mountains jersey.

He was riding for Jumbo-Visma (now Visma – Lease a Bike) at the time. He recently talked about the time he raised his arms on day 19 after beating Mauro Schmid. He will now be on the same team as Jayco-AlUla when they play.

Bouwman tells a funny story about that second win on the De Rode Lantaarn show. “I won the second stage, but I started the sprint too late.” I told myself to wait. Yes, I did take that turn too close. Wout van Aert texted me that night, “Man, I’m proud of you; that was a great corner.” That’s how someone who rides a cyclocross bike would do it.

The Swiss rider Mauro Schmid, who came in second that day, wasn’t very happy. The Dutch rider laughed and said, “Next year he’ll be my teammate.” “I sent him a message that night.” I wrote him that I was sorry that the turn happened in the middle of the sprint, but I wasn’t going to say sorry. I asked for his number. I told him I’d rather have done a straight line run. At the end of the message, I told him that he was going to win big.

Paul Eenkhoorn stopped by that night to see Bouwman, who was lying on the massage table. “‘Have you talked to your friend yet?’ he asked. I just sent the message and gave it to him. Pascal then said, “Stupid, he won a stage in the Giro d’Italia last year.” Sorry, I didn’t know that. I had to say sorry for not knowing.

Schmid didn’t answer Bouwman’s message. “No, he didn’t answer me.” I tried to talk to him again the next day, but he told me he didn’t want to. We haven’t talked since then. When Jayco-AlUla starts training camp on Sunday, I’m excited to see what will happen. “We’re adults, so I’m sure everything will work out.”