"Like I was high for two weeks, but not in a fun way."

Good morning,

These are today's quotes and interviews worth your time.

Stood out to me today: "That was the worst day. Terrible, awful. It was like we were going full gas up every climb, it was the worst day ever on the bike."

¡Vamos!

🎤 INTERESTING INTERVIEWS

"Like I was high for two weeks, but not in a fun way."

Max van der Meulen on his concussion, six weeks on the couch, and coming back at the Tour of the Alps

Twenty-two-year-old Max van der Meulen came into the season with genuine confidence, his second year with Bahrain-Victorious. Then, on day two of the Tour Down Under, he hit the asphalt face-first and lost consciousness for several minutes. He remembers none of it, as he told In De Leiderstrui. "I was lucky, because I really fell with my face and head on the pavement. I was unconscious for a few minutes, apparently trembling on the ground. I have no memory of that, which is actually an advantage."

What followed was six weeks without a bike. Four separate attempts to restart, each cut short after 20 or 30 minutes on the rollers. A fog that wouldn't lift: "The first two weeks I felt absolutely terrible and just had a constant headache, like there was a huge cloud in my head." When things still hadn't improved after five weeks, doubt set in: "You tell yourself it'll take as long as it takes, but of course you lose hope at times." He also sought professional help for the first time: "When I was lying on the couch in the beginning, my life without cycling felt really empty. That wasn't good, which is why I sought professional help from a psychologist for the first time."

The strangest part, looking back: "That was really weird on the couch, I'd just sit there for two hours doing nothing. Like I was high for two weeks, but not in a fun way. When I think back on that, I'm proud of myself and my team that I'm standing here again like this." He arrived at the Tour of the Alps on just six weeks of training, one week of intervals, and zero expectations. "The goal is to finish, and anything else I do beyond that is a bonus."

🏆 THE SERGE BAGUET AWARD

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Wonder what The Serge Baguet Award is all about? Check it out here.

💬 QUICK QUOTES

"That was the worst day. Terrible, awful. It was like we were going full gas up every climb, it was the worst day ever on the bike." — Tom Pidcock, Domestique, after finishing second in the bunch sprint on Stage 1 of the Tour of the Alps on his return from knee ligament damage and a hairline tibia fracture

"This is the most important race of my life. I could not ask for more. I am genuinely overwhelmed with emotion — I can barely even find the words — but I am absolutely thrilled." — Tommaso Dati, Cycling Pro Net, after winning Stage 1 of the Tour of the Alps, a stage he had identified beforehand as his sole realistic shot at a result

"He's not a sprinter, but he does have a fast finish. He wasn't expected to win, but he's very hungry because he wants to step up to a ProTeam or WorldTour team. This is why the team is always fighting for wins. There are no slackers on this team." — Manuele Boaro, sports director, Cycling Weekly, after Tommaso Dati beat Tom Pidcock to win Stage 1 of the Tour of the Alps and put Team Ukyo in the race lead

"Great emotions, a lot of adrenaline, because I was no longer used to these speeds. In training I was doing my best just to hit decent average numbers, but honestly it was great to be back." — Domenico Pozzovivo, Cycling Pro Net, after Stage 1 of the Tour of the Alps, his first race of his comeback at age 43

"Was he out there in the break and thought, maybe my legs aren't 100%, so I'm not gonna go 100% because I just don't have good legs? There is a possibility that Remco didn't consciously decide to be conservative. It's possible. Didn't look like it, but kinda — maybe kinda possible. If he was fresh, and if he made the conscious decision to race that tactically brilliant, then we might be seeing a new Remco Evenepoel. We're going to find out at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, if he's gotten tactically a little bit wiser when he has to race against Tadej Pogačar and Paul Seixas." — Chris Horner, on his YouTube Channel, raising the question of whether Remco Evenepoel's uncharacteristically restrained Amstel Gold Race victory reflects genuine tactical evolution

"The only thing that shows up on your ProCycling profile is 170 kilometers in the attack and then DNF next to your name. And that's basically it. I was still pretty far from Valkenburg, when I abandoned the race. But I didn't know the way back. So I had to ask someone for directions. A guy on a motorbike ended up escorting me all the way back to Valkenburg. I gave him my water bottle as a thank-you for getting me back to the finish and the team bus. Riding through traffic with your race number still on — you could see people looking, wondering how a racing cyclist was passing through. You could see them hesitating: are we in the wrong place, or is it the rider who's in the wrong place? Well, that was on me. I was the one going the wrong way. That was pretty embarrassing." — Siebe Deweirdt, De Reconstructie, on his post-breakaway adventure after abandoning Amstel Gold Race at kilometer 170

"The only thing that really made me laugh was Evenepoel saying afterward that this win ranks in the top eight of his career. As if he had a list in his head: Olympic champion, world champion, Liège... It's a completely absurd question. It gets asked by people from countries that inflate the race and think it's enormously important. Here in the Netherlands we act like this is some massive event that everyone wants to win, but Evenepoel is Olympic champion and world champion. So what is he supposed to say?" — Thijs Zonneveld, In De Waaier, on Remco Evenepoel being asked where his Amstel Gold Race win ranks in his career

"Unfortunately no Flèche Wallonne and no Liège-Bastogne-Liège for me this year. Since a viral infection I had in Tirreno-Adriatico I never really felt myself anymore. I've been struggling and suffering since then, nowhere near the feeling or level I should have. It's time to let the body recover and do some research and tests to find out what's going on." — Ilan Van Wilder, Instagram, announcing he is stepping back to recover

"Paul has a better chance in La Flèche Wallonne than in Liège, in my opinion. He has a shot at winning on Wednesday, and that is mind-blowing for someone his age." — Oliver Naesen, HLN Wielerpodcast, assessing his teammate Paul Seixas's prospects ahead of the 19-year-old's first professional Ardennes campaign

"To be completely honest, I haven't even looked at the start list. It's a race where the start list doesn't tell you much, because you just need to be in position with one kilometer to go and after that it's your legs that do the talking. So who's on the start list or not doesn't change much about how I race. Honestly, I haven't even looked." — Benoît Cosnefroy, Bistrot Vélo, on La Flèche Wallonne, after finishing third in Amstel Gold Race

"Having the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift so close to home feels like a full-circle moment for me. I watched the men's race in 2014 from the side of my home roads as a young kid, and now I hope to have the opportunity next year to line up and race in the peloton. I truly appreciate how far women's pro cycling has come. If I can inspire some women or young girls, even in a small way, to get out on their bikes, that would make me very happy." — Cat Ferguson, Daniel Benson Substack, at the London press conference unveiling the first three stages of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift Grand Départ

"The Olympics are very special for him, and especially because the 2028 Games are in Los Angeles, where his parents competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics. I'm very happy that we can now go into that story together." — Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, In De Leiderstrui, on Taylor Phinney's comeback motivation, whose father Davis won bronze in the team time trial and mother Connie Carpenter-Phinney took gold in the road race at the 1984 Los Angeles Games

"For Sunday, regardless of what happens Wednesday, I'm the leader for the first half of the race and for the second half I have a teammate." — Benoît Cosnefroy, Bistrot Vélo, joking about his role at Liège-Bastogne-Liège with Tadej Pogačar as a teammate

That's it for today. See you tomorrow 👋

Jay