"Signing Seixas when you already have Pogačar is showboating"
Good morning,
These are today's quotes and interviews worth your time.
Stood out to me today: "If I wasn't racing on my home roads and up to Camerino, I would probably have quit the race."
¡Vamos!
🎤 INTERESTING INTERVIEWS
“Signing Seixas when you already have Pogačar is showboating.”
Patrick Lefevere on Matxin, agents, and money in the peloton
Patrick Lefevere used his weekly column in Het Nieuwsblad to go after Joxean 'Matxin' Fernandez, UAE's Sports Manager and someone Lefevere once hired as a scout at Quick Step. The trigger: UAE's pursuit of Paul Seixas. "Excuse my language, or not, but Matxin is getting a little too horny as Sports Manager. Signing Seixas when you already have Pogačar is showboating. You can have the most money in the entire World Tour, but that comes with a certain responsibility and deontology."
The personal edge is sharpest when Lefevere recalls trying to negotiate Juan Ayuso's transfer. "Matxin was finished at Saunier-Duval when I brought him on board at Quick Step as a scout. The problem is that he is only grateful in words, until I ask for a favour in return. I enquired about the transfer conditions for Ayuso when he was at a dead end at UAE. It was non-negotiable, the buyout clause was 28 million euros. Less than a year later, Ayuso is at Lidl-Trek. It's quite possible they had deeper pockets than me, but I'm also quite sure they didn't pay 28 million. A little more goodwill towards me would have suited Matxin."
Lefevere then broadens the attack to agents. "They play the game so much more aggressively than before. They're offices now, with five or six representatives who all want to score and constantly put their riders on the market. Maybe journalists are chasing scoops harder, but it's all being leaked to drive up the price. Shooting wildly like Clint Eastwood, for a few dollars more. Which agent is still doing career planning for his rider? It's bad when a nineteen-year-old believes he can become Pogačar's successor at UAE. Who is barely 27 himself. An agent who tries to sell that story to his rider deserves a lifetime ban."
“Remco immediately opened himself up enormously. He has already stolen a lot of hearts in the team.”
Sven Vanthourenhout on rebuilding Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe's classics culture
Sven Vanthourenhout joined Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe in late July last year in a role that was, by his own admission, unclear to everyone involved. Speaking to HLN, he explains how the cobble classics became his project under sporting manager Zak Dempster. "Build it out completely," Dempster told him. Vanthourenhout started in December, at the first training camp in Mallorca. "We put riders and staff who could potentially be part of that classics core together in one room, where I shared my vision with them via a PowerPoint presentation. It was mainly about mentality, mindset and cohesion. 'I follow my gut, trust me,' I said to Jan-Niklas (Droste, Head of Health & Performance)."
He points to Gianni Vermeersch as a transfer that has paid off immediately, but the picture he paints is of a collective waking up rather than one signing making the difference. Vermeersch's value, he says, is less about results than about being a direct line in and out of races: "When he says something in the briefing, usually not with too many words, it always lands right on target and it quickly becomes clear that 'that guy really does know something about racing.' Then you see the rest looking at each other, like: 'oh yeah.' Afterwards he's almost always right."
On Remco Evenepoel, whose integration into the team attracted plenty of outside scrutiny, Vanthourenhout is straightforward. "The reality is that Remco immediately opened himself up enormously. In his typical way. By showing genuine interest in a lot of things. In the WhatsApp groups he is always one of the first to drop something or react. Even the rookies and juniors get congratulations from him when they win. He also regularly sends messages to soigneurs, mechanics, physios, directeurs. He has already stolen a lot of hearts with that."
On whether Evenepoel can win the Tour: "Yes. I think we have to keep believing in that. Because one day, at the right moment, we might get the very best version of Remco while that is not the case with his main rivals."
“My bike skills are good but there's nothing you can do about the other riders.”
Alan Hatherly on trading mountain bike control for peloton uncertainty
Alan Hatherly finished 13th overall at Tirreno Adriatico, a result that puts him firmly in the conversation for a Giro d'Italia debut later this spring. Speaking to CyclingNews, the current mountain bike world champion is candid about where the real difficulty of his transition lies. It is not the legs. "I'm just missing a few watts to hang on to the front group, but I was happy with my rides."
The harder adjustment has been mental. "As a mountain biker, you take risks but you're in control of your risks. In road racing it's so much about positioning and the risk is completely out of your control. You put yourself in a position in the peloton and hope for the best, that nobody in front of you crashes. That took quite a lot of mental work for me to overcome. My bike skills are good but there's nothing you can do about the other riders." He came to the road wanting to be challenged, and he is getting exactly that. "Everything is a challenge and I'm enjoying that a lot."
On the Giro: "It'll be a whole new adventure for me. It'd be about trying to survive three weeks in a Grand Tour. It's a completely massive project but it'll be super exciting to try the next step in my road career."
🏆 THE SERGE BAGUET AWARD
"Matxin is getting a little too horny. Signing Seixas when you already have Pogačar is showboating."
— Patrick Lefevere, Het Nieuwsblad
Wonder what The Serge Baguet Award is all about? Check it out here.
💬 QUICK QUOTES
“I would rather win the Tour of Flanders a fourth time than Milano - San Remo a third time” — Mathieu van der Poel, HLN
“If I wasn't racing on my home roads and up to Camerino, I would probably have quit the race.” — Giulio Pellizzari revealing he's fighting through a serious tendon problem to finish Tirreno Adriatico, CyclingNews
“Last year he was already very close. If I'm one percent less, Tadej is gone on the Cipressa. It's a matter of time before he wins that race.” — Mathieu van der Poel on the expected duel with Pogačar at Milano-San Remo, Sporza
“Maybe I lose a little bit of aerodynamic advantage, but I like to have the power when I stand on the pedals. I'm used to the size, and so for now I'm sticking to wide bars.” — Mathieu van der Poel explaining why he refuses to follow the narrow handlebar trend, CyclingNews
“I never thought I would win a mountain stage.” — Dorian Godon joking after his stage win in the shortened summit finish at Paris-Nice, WielerFlits
“I'm super happy, but I also have mixed feelings.” — Isaac del Toro after beating his friend Pellizzari on Tirreno Adriatico's queen stage in Pellizzari's home town, Cycling Up To Date
That's it for today. See you tomorrow 👋
Jay