"I wouldn't hesitate for a second"
Good morning,
These are today's quotes and interviews worth your time, nothing else.
This stood out to me today: "Seixas would have been the perfect replacement for Remco Evenepoel at Soudal Quick-Step"
¡Vamos!
🎤 INTERESTING INTERVIEWS
“We are really starting from scratch this year”
Luca Festa on rebuilding David Gaudu
Luca Festa has been David Gaudu's coach since this winter, replacing David Han in a change made by Groupama-FDJ United. Speaking to Eurosport France ahead of Paris-Nice, their second race together this season, Festa opened up for the first time on what he found when he arrived and what the work actually involves.
"We are really starting from scratch this year. When we began, we had to rebuild." Festa says he started by analyzing the past without judging it, conscious that injuries and crashes explain a lot. The gap that opened between Gaudu and the top level is real, and Festa does not obscure it. "He was probably at the level of the best a few years ago, yes. But now the level is higher and he hasn't been able to work properly to improve like the others. What we have to do now is close that gap."
The physical rebuilding is one thing. The mental reconstruction is the other. "Of course, we also have to rebuild the man, because he has lost confidence in himself." Festa describes a rider who wanted to work, who wanted to return, but who was lost and looking for answers in too many places.
His response was to strip it back. "David, I'm not a magician. I'm just a coach and we have to build together. You have to help me get to know you better, to tell me what works for you and what doesn't." He told Gaudu to stop looking at what remained to be done and focus on what had already been achieved in just a few months. For Paris-Nice, Festa expects nothing in terms of results. He wants to see a David Gaudu who never gives up and who stays focused on taking something from the race rather than letting one bad moment destroy everything.
“If it gets worse, riders will end up with a motorcycle escort or some kind of personal bodyguard”
Jonas Vingegaard on training safety and amateur riders following him on the road
Vingegaard started his season at Paris-Nice in part because a crash during winter preparation forced him to drop his original plan of racing the UAE Tour. The crash happened in the Málaga region of Spain, triggered by an amateur cyclist following him too closely as he trained.
"I think the guy who posted it actually explained it quite well. That was exactly what happened. He followed me, and then I just went too fast into a corner," Vingegaard told TV2. He takes responsibility for the error. But the broader discomfort is clear. "For me it feels a bit crossing the line that people follow me like that. I don't mind at all if people ride up and ask for a picture. That's completely fine. But following me is something different."
He sees where this leads. "When the crash had just happened I also thought that if it continues like this and gets worse, then that's where it ends. Either riders will have a motorcycle with them or some kind of personal bodyguard so people can't get close."
“Seixas would have been the perfect replacement for Remco Evenepoel at Soudal Quick-Step”
Patrick Lefevere on almost signing Paul Seixas
Writing in his weekly column for Het Nieuwsblad, Lefevere reveals that Seixas visited his office in Wevelgem before eventually signing with Decathlon CMA CGM.
"Not so long ago he was in my office in Wevelgem, together with his mother. After a tip from our scout Johan Molly. The negotiation stalled over a legal ambiguity around his junior contract with AG2R-Citroën. He had signed as a junior, but the required parental co-signature was missing, with only a photo showing his parents were present at the time of signing."
Before anything could be resolved, AG2R brought in co-sponsor Decathlon and gained financial firepower that ended the conversation. "That was our chance gone. Too bad, because Seixas would have been the perfect replacement for Remco Evenepoel at Soudal Quick-Step."
“I had a completely different image of him”
Steven de Jongh on Juan Ayuso at Lidl-Trek
Steven de Jongh is the sports director assigned to work closely with Juan Ayuso at Lidl-Trek. Speaking to Wielerflits, De Jongh describes an early collaboration built around getting to know each other and building trust ahead of Paris-Nice and the Tour.
"Juan is a very friendly guy," De Jongh says. "I actually had a completely different image of him when he was at UAE Emirates, because he was portrayed quite negatively there. But no, so far the collaboration is good. He is a very nice guy to work with. He is very grateful for everything we do and he is very impressed by the way we work."
De Jongh also worked closely with Alberto Contador at Tinkoff-Saxo and later Trek-Segafredo, and sees a familiar quality in Ayuso's approach to racing. Before the Volta ao Algarve's summit finish at Alto da Fóia, Ayuso came back from the course reconnaissance with a plan already formed. "He immediately switched gears: 'Okay, this, this, this... This is what I'd like to do and the dream scenario is this.' He just had a plan ready and said it out loud. I always like that. And it also gives confidence to your teammates."
“Jonas and Matteo said I was a unique domestique and I know what that job really means”
Victor Campenaerts on his role alongside Jonas Vingegaard
Jan Bakelants interviewed Victor Campenaerts for HLN ahead of Paris-Nice, where Campenaerts will ride in support of Vingegaard. The conversation covers the mechanics of being a domestique, the decision to skip the spring classics, and the difference between the two men.
Campenaerts explains the shift away from the classics bluntly. "After every classic I drove home in the evening with an ice pack against my forehead." He told the team during the Vuelta that he had lost confidence in those races and could not identify what he was doing wrong. The contrast with stage races was sharp enough to settle the question.
He also addresses Cian Uijtdebroeks's criticism that Visma-Lease a Bike gave him little input. Campenaerts pushes back gently. "He had little input in his trainings and stages? He had input." The core issue, in Campenaerts's view, was that Uijtdebroeks preferred personal optimization over the collective model the team runs. "When we went for a coffee on a rest day, he saw no added value in a coffee break and preferred to ride for an hour and a half straight. Maybe we couldn't win the Tour the past two years because we sometimes stopped for coffee on training rides, but I doubt that's the reason."
On his relationship with Vingegaard, Campenaerts is specific. "Last year Jonas had not sent me a single message at this point in the season. After Paris-Nice, he and Matteo Jorgenson said I was a unique domestique and I know what that job really means. They added that, if necessary, I would even get off my bike to wipe their backside." He goes further. "I wouldn't hesitate for a second."
The example he gives: during the Vuelta, Vingegaard forgot his nasal strip before a mountain stage. Campenaerts ran back to the bus, collected the strip along with kitchen roll and antiseptic gel, and returned after the start had already been given. "Did I then have to chase for twenty kilometres? Yes. But it was important for Jonas and so I do it."
🏆 THE SERGE BAGUET AWARD
“If necessary, I would even get off my bike to wipe their backside.”
— Victor Campenaerts, HLN
Wonder what The Serge Baguet Award is all about? Check it out here.
💬 QUICK QUOTES
“The rise of such young riders doesn't make me feel old. On the contrary, it makes me feel younger. I love competing against these guys. Once we pin on a number and the race starts, age means nothing. Everyone starts from zero and has to prove themselves again.” — Primoz Roglic, Wielerflits
“I don't think it was worthy of a World Tour race. Bad roads, constantly right and left, potholes. Especially the last descent, which we rode three times, wasn't good enough for a WorldTour race.” — Jonas Vingegaard on the state of the roads in the first stage of ParisNice, Feltet
“He didn't want to take Seixas over one more climb, because otherwise that kid gets hope for the rest of 2026.” — Laurens Ten Dam in the Live Slow Ride Fast Podcast on why Pogacar did everything to drop Seixas at Strade Bianche.
“I hope to make some headlines but not by losing.” — Filippo Ganna ahead of the Tirreno-Adriatico time trial, CyclingNews
That's it for today. See you tomorrow 👋
Jay