"I went from thinking my race was over to thinking: wow, let's play."
Good morning,
These are today's quotes and interviews worth your time.
Stood out to me today: "I remember speaking with Matthew Riccitello in the off-season, and he was specifically told to not learn French, because the meetings need to be in English. For a French team, that is unthinkable."
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🎤 INTERESTING INTERVIEWS
"She could become world champion."
Michel Cornelisse on Paula Blasi's last-minute Amstel Gold Race win
A cascade of injuries and illness inside UAE Team ADQ left sports director Michel Cornelisse scrambling for a replacement rider days before the Amstel Gold Race. Paula Blasi had just raced the Brabantse Pijl on Friday. Staying on wasn't in the plan. "We convinced her to start here," Cornelisse told NOS. "She was supposed to go to training camp, but I think she certainly has no regrets."
What followed was a 22-kilometer solo that surprised everyone in the car. "That she could do this, I didn't know either," Cornelisse said. "I have always been convinced this was a race she could win in the future. She climbs very well and has a good sprint." But the future arrived rather abruptly. In the final local lap before the finish, Blasi nearly missed a bend. "She had never ridden here before. You could tell. I was sitting bolt upright in the car after that."
He watched her cross the line in disbelief. "It is unbelievable." Cornelisse had quietly predicted something like this was coming, though perhaps not so soon. "I've said it quietly before: I think she'll become a truly great champion in the next five years. I have even said she could become world champion. I see enormous potential."
The one area he wants to develop is mental. "She has a tendency to train a lot, wants to give everything. She has a little ADHD, just like me. Sometimes she needs to be held back. When that happens, the great results will come."
"I'll just go with the flow and see what happens."
Paula Blasi on winning the Amstel Gold Race as a last-minute starter
Paula Blasi didn't expect to be at the start. The call came late: stay in Belgium a couple of days in case someone gets sick. Someone did. Then another. "In the end two riders got ill, so we still started a rider short," she told Marca. And the race itself didn't begin well either. Blasi had done no course reconnaissance, just a quick look at VeloViewer. "I said: I'll just go with the flow and see what happens."
It nearly ended early. Positioning on the narrow roads cost her, and she slipped out of the front group. "I got dropped from the group. I was already in a second group and thought my race was over." She radioed the team: cover attacks, work until she couldn't. Then one of those attacks changed everything. A rider went clear. Blasi chased to close the gap, looked back, and no one had followed. "And there I started to dream."
The solo lasted long enough that doubt had no time to settle. "I went from thinking my race was over to thinking: wow, let's play." She rode better alone, at a hard steady tempo rather than constant accelerations. Her twin brother, childhood rival in everything from athletics to who could drink water fastest, had trained her competitive edge to a fine point. "I always pushed harder and I think that gave me that little extra."
The win is enormous, she knows, even if the magnitude hasn't fully landed. "No Spanish rider has ever won here, neither men nor women." Teammate Mavi García said it to her at the hotel afterward: "I don't think you realize how big this is." Blasi's answer was honest: "I'm aware that I have no idea what this means. I think I'll realize it with time."
"It is one setback after another for us."
Maarten Wynants on Visma's Ardennes collapse after losing Matteo Jorgenson
The Ardennes plan for Visma | Lease a Bike was built around Matteo Jorgenson. He crashed out of the Amstel Gold Race with 41 kilometers to go after Kévin Vauquelin went down in front of him, and subsequent examinations confirmed a broken collarbone. He is out of both La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. "It is one setback after another for us," sports director Maarten Wynants told Domestique. "Matteo was our leader, and he was good, but he crashed."
The situation is compounded. Ben Tulett was already absent from Amstel due to illness, his status for the remaining races uncertain. New signing Louis Barré has also dropped out of the picture after struggling to find form. "We'll have to see if Ben can still get fit in time. At the moment, it's difficult. Things just aren't going our way."
No Plan B involves the team's bigger names. Wout van Aert just returned from a short holiday and won't be redirected to Liège. Jonas Vingegaard and Victor Campenaerts remain on altitude training, pointed squarely at the Giro d'Italia. "We want to stick to the plan we have for that Giro trajectory. We're not going to adjust that now."
Instead, the team turns to 21-year-old Jørgen Nordhagen, who showed well behind Adam Yates at O Gran Camiño last week. "Nordhagen will ride and he's already shown good things, but of course it's different when you suddenly have to change everything."
"Riding my bike actually helped the knee get better."
Tom Pidcock on his crash recovery and return to racing at the Tour of the Alps
Tom Pidcock wasn't supposed to miss the Ardennes entirely. His original plan had him at the Amstel Gold Race this weekend, but the knee injury from his crash at the Volta a Catalunya forced a rescheduled program. The damage was significant: anterolateral ligament damage, bone bruising, and a hairline fracture of the tibia. Pinarello-Q36.5 manager Doug Ryder had prepared for the possibility he would skip the Ardennes classics altogether.
Then something counterintuitive happened. "I think I'm really lucky because riding my bike actually helped the knee get better," Pidcock told media including Domestique in Innsbruck. "It took inflammation out of the knee and so actually it was pretty good. I think if I wasn't a cyclist and not trying to ride, then it would have taken longer. I don't have any pain."
His form when he first got back on the bike was encouraging enough that the team accelerated the return. The team initially suggested Flèche Wallonne, but Pidcock pushed back: "Yeah, but there you need to be really, really 100%, you can't hide." Five days of racing over longer climbs at the Tour of the Alps felt like a better reintroduction, with Liège-Bastogne-Liège as the end target.
"It is an honor to work for him."
Giulio Pellizzari on Remco Evenepoel's effect on the team, and his own Giro ambitions
Giulio Pellizzari was sitting at the back of a press room in Innsbruck on Sunday, there for the Tour of the Alps team presentation, when the Amstel Gold Race reached its finish. He watched every kilometer, edging toward the front of his chair. When Remco Evenepoel won the sprint, a shout of Italian origin echoed through the room. "We can all go to bed happy," Pellizzari laughed afterward, speaking to In De Leiderstrui. The win was the team's first since Jordi Meeus's victory at the Ename Samyn Classic on March 3. "The Amstel Gold Race was what we needed, after a longer period without a win for the team."
The reaction reveals something about what Evenepoel has brought to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe since arriving this winter. "Remco brings a great deal of confidence to the team, for practically all the riders. It is an honor to work for him, but beyond that it is always special when a teammate wins a race like this."
For his part, Evenepoel has spoken publicly about what he sees in his young Italian colleague: "He may dream of a podium finish at the Giro. And if you're good enough for the podium, you can also win."
Pellizzari races the Tour of the Alps starting Monday, his main Giro preparation block. After a knee issue required a break following Milano-Sanremo, he completed altitude training without complications. "I have not really had the chance to test myself on longer climbs in earlier races. This race has plenty of them. It is one of the hardest climbing races of the year." The longer climbs are a known gap. "It will be somewhat uncharted territory for me, because I haven't raced long climbs in a long time. I need that for the Giro. I hope to have good legs."
"The Red Bull KM can even decide the race."
Vincenzo Nibali on the Giro d'Italia's sprint bonus segment and the 2026 edition
Vincenzo Nibali, the 2013 and 2016 Giro d'Italia winner, talks about the race's Red Bull KM with particular interest. The intermediate segment awards bonus seconds to the first three riders who pass under a second arch, and this year it appears in 20 of 21 stages, positioned far closer to the finish than in 2025.
"The Red Bull KM can even decide the race," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. The tactical stakes are real: in 2012, Ryder Hesjedal's margin over Joaquim Rodriguez was only 16 seconds. "With the Red Bull KM, tactical management of the race will be even more important, to prevent GC riders from passing under the second arch in the top three too many times in the early stages."
On the parcours, Nibali does not think the Giro is decided early. "In the first stages the bonus is crucial because a few seconds make a big difference, so sprinters could almost be forced into a double sprint effort." The harder terrain arrives late, but one climb demands attention sooner. "The Blockhaus will require excellent condition even in the first part of the race. It's a real climb. I'm not saying it will decide the Giro, but it will show who the five or six contenders capable of fighting for the final win will be."
His pick for favorite is unambiguous. "The big favorite is obviously Jonas Vingegaard, who has won the Tour de France twice and the Vuelta once in his career, although I am curious to see João Almeida in action. I also expect some young outsider to make their mark."
🏆 THE SERGE BAGUET AWARD
Not awarded today
Wonder what The Serge Baguet Award is all about? Check it out here.
💬 QUICK QUOTES
"Based on the numbers, I think that was one of my better sprints after a hard race." — Remco Evenepoel, HLN after winning the Amstel Gold Race with a sprint finish over Mattias Skjelmose.
"Last year I was lucky. This year, he just beat me with legs." — Mattias Skjelmose, CyclingNews after finishing second to Evenepoel in a two-man sprint.
"Honestly I think just seeing Wout [van Aert] pulling it off in Roubaix gave me so much faith for what's next." — Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, CyclingNews after finishing second at the Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition, her third runner-up result of the spring following similar defeats at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche.
"I lost my position just before the crucial moment. There were also riders in the chase who weren't contributing, that's always the way. But I do think Mauri [Vansevenant] could have helped. He didn't pull once at the front; I asked him several times." — Benoît Cosnefroy, Cyclism'Actu TV after finishing third at the Amstel Gold Race.
"Right now I don't feel destroyed. I'm happy with how I feel. We're going to look at all the data, but right now things are looking good. If the weather holds up, I hope to race on Wednesday." — Remco Evenepoel, WielerFlits leaving his participation in Wednesday's Waalse Pijl unconfirmed after winning the Amstel Gold Race.
"I'm a little frustrated with the finale. I need to learn how to play the game better. I started my sprint too early. In the end I'm not here for a tenth place, a podium is much better." — Marco Frigo, In de Leiderstrui after finishing tenth at the Amstel Gold Race, the last rider left from the breakaway.
"She is super positive and enthusiastic. She always wants to go harder and do more. We sometimes have to slow her down rather than push her. She is truly a great talent. This morning she told me she would do everything she could to get me on the podium, but I told her this course would suit her very well too. She deserves this. She always wants to ride for everyone, but today was her chance." — Karlijn Swinkels, WielerFlits praising teammate Paula Blasi, winner of the Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition.
"I got dropped with her, but somehow she found her legs again after that. I definitely couldn't find mine. Truly incredible, because behind Blasi everyone was going full gas." — Marianne Vos, WielerFlits after finishing 24th in the Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition.
"I remember speaking with Matthew Riccitello in the off-season, and he had signed with Decathlon. He was specifically told to not learn French, because the meetings need to be in English. For a French team, that is unthinkable." — Johan Bruyneel, THEMOVE using Riccitello's move to Decathlon CMA CGM as evidence of the team's deliberate push toward English-only operations as a structural break from its French roots.
"There was a little bit of conversation at the start of the final climb up to the Cauberg. I'm just sitting there going, 'Wonder what they're saying.' But then I kinda thought about it, and I said, 'I know exactly what they're saying.' I was almost saying it for them: 'I'm fucked. I'm fucked. Don't worry. I'm happy to be second.' Some version of this." — Lance Armstrong, THEMOVE interpreting the exchange between Remco Evenepoel and Mattias Skjelmose on the final Cauberg ascent.
"We didn't have so much time. I just gave him a hug, and then he left for the podium. And I was still a bit dizzy from the sprint because I was completely dead. So yeah, we can do the talking when we get back to the bus." — Albert Withen Philipsen, Cycling Pro Net on the brief moment with teammate Mattias Skjelmose after the Amstel Gold Race.
"This is where your director sportif in the car has to know that a rider might be happy to get second. Skjelmose might be thinking: this is Amstel Gold. If I get second, this looks fantastic. If something goes wrong for me later in the season, I can say I got second at Amstel Gold, my season is a success and my contract gets renewed. But if you're the director sportif, you're thinking about how to win — not just get second. And if you're thinking about how to win, you can't go to the line with Remco Evenepoel." — Chris Horner, on his YouTube Channel, on Mattias Skjelmose's second place at the Amstel Gold Race.
That's it for today. See you tomorrow 👋
Jay