"I sank mentally. I think I was depressed."
Good morning,
These are today's quotes and interviews worth your time.
Stood out to me today: "If you put Pogi and me next to each other in our underwear and asked a non-cycling fan who the 'destroyer of worlds' is — you'd say me. I look a lot more athletic."
¡Vamos!
🎤 INTERESTING INTERVIEWS
"Last year I found out I was going to be a father. And I couldn't even feel happy about it. "
Florian Sénéchal on depression, fatherhood, and finding his way back
Florian Sénéchal opens up with rare directness in a long conversation with Bistrot Vélo. The context: two seasons of crashes, lost form, and a slow psychological unraveling before signing a one-year deal with Alpecin-Premier Tech.
He traces the spiral with unusual precision. "You train all winter, you leave your family behind, you go to altitude and you come back ready — and then you break your collarbone. You start all over from scratch. But maybe you come back slightly less sharp. You get to a race and it doesn't go as planned and you find yourself at the back. And that's when you lose the enjoyment. You're on a yo-yo. The following winter you recharge. And it starts again. You come back ready for Paris-Nice and you break something again. And you lose confidence in yourself. Bit by bit you feel the mental side giving way. You stop being a fighter, you stop being aggressive on the bike. The joy disappears. And gradually, with less and less sleep, you stop appreciating anything."
He doesn’t shy away from naming it: "I sank. I sank mentally. I think I was depressed — even if it was never official. Constant insomnia, no enjoyment in anything."
The sharpest moment in the interview is about the news of his partner's pregnancy: "Last year I found out I was going to be a father. And I couldn't even feel happy about it. That's when I realized I had a real problem. I didn't enjoy the pregnancy at all. Then about a month ago, I became a dad — and everything bad just left. I was fully present at the birth, I took in every moment with my second daughter at the maternity ward. I could feel something had shifted. I never sought professional treatment. For me, the medicine was family — and the support of the people close to me."
He signed with Alpecin-Premier Tech with one goal in mind. "I was honest about it and I just told them I wanted to rediscover my passion for the sport, because I had lost it. At that point I really didn't care much about the contract money — I just wanted to ride for the enjoyment of it and finish my career on a good note. And I think right now I'm finding my way back to who I really am."
"I'd love to see Roglič in a different role."
Allan Peiper on Roglič, Pogačar, Evenepoel, and what Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe is building
Allan Peiper, strategic advisor at Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe and a key figure behind Tadej Pogačar's first Tour de France title, gave a wide-ranging interview to Sportal. His return to the sport after battling prostate cancer brings weight to everything he says.
On his role alongside sports director Zak Dempster: "I won't say they do exactly what I say, but they listen. Change takes time, but there are already a lot of good things happening in the team." He believes the team's ceiling is still well ahead. "In my opinion the team will reach its peak only in a few years. It has everything: resources, knowledge, structure, the appeal of a big team and a sponsor that young people feel incredibly close to. If they make the right personnel decisions, this will be one of the greatest cycling teams in the future."
On Primož Roglič: "On one hand, I'd very much love to see him back at his standard peak level and winning the Vuelta again. On the other hand, I'd also love to see him in a different role. For instance, starting the Giro and helping Giulio Pellizzari in the GC fight, maybe winning a stage himself along the way, but being there primarily to help a younger rider with his experience and be by his side in the decisive moments. Or — which would be even bigger for me — going to the Tour de France with Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz. Both have already stood on the podium, but they probably don't yet have the depth of experience Primož has."
The follow-up question writes itself: would Roglič accept it? "He has never been in a purely support role, because he was always good enough to lead. That transition in mindset would be a very big one."
On Pogačar's focus after crashes: "We saw that in Sanremo. I think that should be a textbook example for almost every cyclist when it comes to concentration. He fell in a corner and was back on his bike seconds later. He didn't look back at the camera, he didn't make a scene." And on what it means to watch a champion of this magnitude from the outside: "I think people will only truly understand how great he is after his career is over. We love creating champions, and then we're already looking for the next one instead of appreciating the one we already have."
On Remco Evenepoel and the particular pressure of being Belgian: "It's hard to be a Belgian cyclist. Being Remco in Belgium is even harder. He's under a microscope all the time. Nothing can happen without the media noticing. The media write about him for practically every gesture, every statement. I don't think anyone in the world needs that much attention all the time, as much as Remco gets. Of course that attention suits him, but probably only when it's positive."
🏆 THE SERGE BAGUET AWARD
"If you put Pogi and me next to each other in our underwear and asked a non-cycling fan who the 'destroyer of worlds' is — you'd say me. I look a lot more athletic."
— Oliver Naesen, HLN Wielerpodcast
Wonder what The Serge Baguet Award is all about? Check it out here.
💬 QUICK QUOTES
"It was a horrible, torture-fest of a race for some, but a great race for others who thrive on that difficulty." — Sean Kelly, CyclingNews on the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
"In one of the climbs, he attacked. I was well-positioned with my teammates. I was on Laporte's wheel, on Remco's wheel. I felt good. And then in one single moment, I see something coming up on my right. I thought it was a motorbike — I was ready to shout at the guy. And in that split second, I look up and he's already gone up the climb at a speed I have never seen in my life. And I've seen a few things in my career. When I saw him go past at that speed when we were already flat out — I could still see guys in front of me, strong riders like Laporte, even Remco — they were riding hard, maybe not at their absolute limit, but they weren't making up any ground. Pogacar just rode through the whole group in the crosswind like a motorbike. That's the difference. There's simply no comparison." — Florian Sénéchal, Bistrot Vélo on mistaking Tadej Pogačar's attack in the Ronde van Vlaanderen for a motorbike.
"All your senses are completely raw. Your body is under pressure, all your senses are exposed, and you are exhausted. It is the same with interviews when they shove a camera in your face. Sometimes you just want to — I mean, you really have to think carefully to stop yourself from losing it. There was one journalist — I think it was Sportal — who asked me: was it hard? What kind of question is that? Look at me, man. I look like hell. I have just ridden almost 300 kilometers." — Mads Pedersen, Lang Distance on the raw emotional state after finishing a Monument.
"I don't know if it did anything for him, but maybe I've become slightly more popular in Belgium because I said it to Wout. So something good came out of it at least." — Mads Pedersen, Lang Distance joking about riding up to Wout van Aert immediately after E3 to tell him how much he respects him.
"I see a lot of parallels between Greg's career and Wout's. They are both men who rack up an enormous number of near-misses. The Flemish public seems to love nothing more than champions who just fall short of the very top. Seemingly more than someone who wins race after race. I saw that yesterday on the roadside too. All you heard was: Wout, Wout, Wout." — Oliver Naesen, HLN Wielerpodcast comparing Greg Van Avermaet's career to Wout van Aert's.
"Today I didn't expect to be in this kind of shape. I didn't do altitude training beforehand, but the preparation has clearly paid off." — Paul Seixas, Cycling Pro Net after winning the time trial at Itzulia Basque Country.
"I gave everything I had. I know I'm not at 100 percent right now — for the last three days I haven't really been able to train because my little girl was in the hospital. I almost didn't make the start. She's doing better now, and that's what matters most." — Bruno Armirail, Cycling Pro Net after finishing 12th in the Itzulia Basque Country time trial.
"Can I ask you something — do you really think there are still prep races in 2026? I'm joking, but no, seriously — preparing for the Ardennes Classics also means racing to win. You have to push yourself to the absolute limit if you want to make the next step." — Kévin Vauquelin, Cycling Pro Net after finishing second in the Itzulia Basque Country time trial.
"Remco will not ride Paris-Roubaix. The plan is to keep his focus on the Ardennes Classics, as originally planned. After his impressive debut at the Ronde last Sunday, Roubaix is something we can look at in the future, but for now we're sticking with the current plan." — Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, Het Nieuwsblad, on Remco Evenepoel's Paris-Roubaix plans.
"I keep hearing more and more positive news about an imminent return. But Paris-Roubaix is definitely still too soon for him. When you come back from an injury like this, a cobbled classic is not something you'd recommend anyway." — Fabio Baldato, sports director at UAE Team Emirates - XRG, as told to Het Nieuwsblad on Tim Wellens' likely return, possibly at La Flèche Wallonne or Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
"At that moment, going into Arenberg, you just switch your brain off. You tell yourself: whatever happens, happens — but you have to commit. Because if you start thinking, you can be sure that 30 riders will come past you and your race is over. The only option is to switch off and go. But for 20, 30 seconds, you can't really control anything, you don't know what's going to happen, there are a thousand things running through your head — your fate is entirely in the hands of luck." — Thierry Gouvenou, Bistrot Vélo on what it feels like to ride the Trouée d'Arenberg in Paris-Roubaix.
"It is also a love-hate relationship for me. It's like the perfect wife, anything you could ask for. But she also has this urge to see other people besides you. So it is a tricky one. But she will be conquered one day." — Mads Pedersen, Lang Distance on his relationship with Paris-Roubaix.
That's it for today. See you tomorrow 👋
Jay