"The best way to ruin his career"

Good morning,

These are today's quotes and interviews worth your time, nothing else.

This stood out to me today: "The best way to ruin his career is by loading him now with the pressure of the French nation."

¡Vamos!

🎤 INTERESTING INTERVIEWS

“If you're there on the Molenberg, that's a good sign. I only think that when I feel strong, not when I'm at my limit.”

Rick Pluimers on a week of broken teeth, a new contract, and a bigger role at Tudor

Rick Pluimers left Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with a broken front tooth, a bruised hand, and more confidence than he expected. Speaking to Wielerflits, the 25-year-old described the moment before his crash on the Molenberg. "Underneath the Molenberg I felt that the gap that had formed to Florian Vermeersch, I could close it. Of course there's always the question of what would have happened next. Because of my fall, he and Mathieu van der Poel ended up in front together. While Mathieu wasn't really planning to make his move yet." Two days later, Tudor extended his contract through 2029.

Stefan Küng's fractured femur opened a door Pluimers would rather have stayed closed. "The fact that Stefan is out is above all a real shame. He shows every spring what he's worth. Matteo Trentin and I are fairly comparable riders. With Küng we had someone who could do it a different way. Tactically that gives our team more options. It's just a real shame that that tactic has now taken a blow." He acknowledges the arithmetic plainly enough. "In Omloop I was shadow team leader. It's not a difficult equation if Küng drops out, that you move up a spot. But I'd rather not look at it that way."

The longer ambition is clear. Tudor sees him as Trentin's eventual successor in the classics, and Pluimers is comfortable with the pace of that transition. "For me it's very nice to grow now in the shadow of Matteo in the classic work. I can ride my own race and as soon as it turns into a tactical game, we have two pieces with Trentin and me. For the future, the idea is that I become a team leader in the classics for Tudor Pro Cycling." His target for this spring is straightforward. "What I showed on the Molenberg. That I can be there at the important moments in a race and keep up, that I show that consistently. If I can achieve a top ten in the E3 Saxo Classic, Dwars Door Vlaanderen or the Tour of Flanders with that, then that is very impressive."

“We were just a group of guys in the same jersey racing the same race. What we needed was to be a team.”

Zak Dempster on what changed at Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe this classics season

That line came from Laurence Pithie, not Dempster, but it set the tone for everything Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe has done differently since December. Dempster, Chief of Sports, told the Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe website that the shift started well before the racing did. "The biggest change is the mindset. People started those conversations already in December: how do we want to be perceived as a group? Seeing that play out on the road has been really cool so far."

The changes were deliberate and concrete. Sven Vanthourenhout and Shane Archbold took over the sporting direction for the classics block. Small details borrowed from football, like a shared physio room where riders recover together and watch race replays, helped build something the team had lacked. Gianni Vermeersch sets a daily standard. Jarrad Drizners spent most of Omloop on the front without showing up in the results. Dempster is precise about what that means. "Those two didn't get results themselves, but they played key roles. So I wouldn't reduce it to one individual. It's about the group coming together."

Remco Evenepoel's early season form fed into the classics group too, even though he isn't racing cobbles. "Some of the Classics riders were at training camp in February and saw how strongly we started the season. Remco was a key player in that." The points total over Opening Weekend, more than any other team, matters less to Dempster than the direction of travel. "The main goal of the Classics block is to build momentum. You build momentum by being in the fight for results. Of course, we want to win."

“An ambulance had to come because I'd fallen into a coma”

Kim Le Court on a childhood malaria diagnosis that nearly killed her

Speaking on the Radio Peloton podcast, Kim Le Court traced her path to professional cycling back through a medical emergency most people would never have survived. A childhood move from South Africa to Madagascar ended with a malaria infection that went undetected when she returned to France. "There, they said it was just the flu," she recalled. Twice she was sent home. Her condition kept deteriorating.

The situation eventually became critical. "I couldn't walk anymore. An ambulance had to come and pick me up because I had fallen into a coma." Only when doctors made the connection to Madagascar did the correct diagnosis emerge. By then her survival chance had dropped to ten percent. A risky medication had to be sourced from Madagascar. Her father signed a declaration taking full responsibility before it could be administered. "My brother was called and told he should come and say goodbye to me."

She recovered. The experience left its deepest mark on her family rather than on her own memory. "It was a very difficult period for my parents and my brother. They remember everything. I was still young." Le Court eventually rebuilt her career through mountain biking, won the Cape Epic in 2023, and signed with AG Insurance Soudal the following year. She can reflect on all of it now with distance. "In the meantime, I never get bitten by mosquitoes anymore."

“If they really send him to the Tour at Decathlon, they are completely insane — but I can see them doing it”

Thijs Zonneveld on Paul Seixas, the hype, and the one mistake his team cannot afford to make

Thijs Zonneveld is a journalist, former cyclist, and current DS at BEAT Cycling. In the In de Waaier podcast, he was enthusiastic about what Paul Seixas produced in the Faun-Ardèche Classic. "I don't know which win was more impressive, but what he did last Saturday was absolutely fantastic. If you see how easily he rides away from Jorgenson." Then came the qualifier. "He is 19 and last week he won his first professional race."

The concern isn't the talent. It's the environment around it. "Since Saturday the hype has really become Evenepoel-esque," Zonneveld said. He wants Decathlon CMA CGM to hold the line. "The best way to ruin his career is by loading him now with the pressure of the French nation." The team has an obvious alternative. "They have paid a lot of money for a sprint train around Olav Kooij, so they also simply have a perfectly good alternative."

His preference for Seixas is the Vuelta, following the path Pogacar once took. "If you ride a Grand Tour, just go to the Vuelta without expectations." He added one more note of caution for the French press already writing the script. "In France they now think that in the Vuelta he'll just beat a Roglic or whoever, but an eighth place in the general classification would also be fantastic for a 19-year-old rider."

“Physically I feel much better compared to last year. And back then I was already on the podium.”

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot on being a road cyclist now, not just a mountain biker passing through

Ferrand-Prévot arrived at the Strade Bianche press conference without any ambiguity about where she stands. Speaking to Wielerflits, she described last year as a comeback season in disguise. "I still thought of myself as a mountain biker. Now I am no longer new and I truly feel like a road cyclist. I have more of an idea." The distinction matters to her.

The results that followed that identity shift were immediate: Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de France Femmes in her debut road season, third at Strade. This year she is going further. "I can go for the win, I think, because I feel very good." She is also thinking about what went wrong at the World Championship, where a lack of tactical adjustment cost her. "I thought: you lost the World Championship because you didn't race the way you need to race. I need to change the way I race."

On the subject of a Vollering rivalry she deflected without drama. "Demi is not bigger than the rest, though she is always super good. But there are more riders in the peloton right now who are super good, just think of Elisa Longo Borghini. The level is really a lot higher again." She also wants more consistency across the whole season. "Last year my peak in the Tour de France Femmes was very high and in the other races I was considerably less. I was good, but still considerably less than in the Tour."

“The atmosphere at Movistar is warmer than at Visma, it suits me better”

Cian Uijtdebroeks on his injury, missing Paris-Nice, and feeling at home at his new team

Cian Uijtdebroeks fell in the third stage of the Volta Comunitat Valenciana and has been managing a crack in his elbow ever since. He told Het Nieuwsblad that the recovery took longer than expected. "It cost a lot of time to come back after that injury. Certainly the first two weeks I could do little. After about ten days I could sit on the home trainer again. Since a few days I can go outside again, that does me good." He had built up a solid base in winter, which he says limited the damage.

Missing Paris-Nice is a genuine loss. "I was really looking forward to testing myself on that course. It would have been a good dress rehearsal for the team time trial. Because the Tour de France starts with a similar stage in Barcelona." He will restart at Milan-Turin on March 18, then Catalonia, before targeting the Ardennes. "I want to be at my best in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. My training schedule is set up for that."

The transition to Movistar has been easier than the injury situation suggests. "Unlike at Visma the atmosphere here is more southern and warmer. You can compare it a little to Walloon hospitality. They have an approach that focuses on all aspects of performance, including your mental wellbeing. I can appreciate that very much." He has been spending time with Enric Mas at the physio and gets on with Spanish champion Ivan Romeo, who lives nearby. His Spanish is improving. The only genuine upside of the injury: more time with his girlfriend Magdeleine Vallières, who baked him a birthday cake last weekend.

“We used to go in peacefully. We knew clearly that when you turned professional you didn't think about racing. Your goal was to carry bidons.”

Mikel Landa on how completely the professional entry point has changed

Speaking in the Bajo El Maillot podcast with Laura Meseguer, Mikel Landa described what it used to mean to become a professional cyclist. "We used to go in peacefully. We knew clearly that when you turned professional you didn't think about racing. Your goal was to carry bidons, take off your leaders' rain jackets, get into a breakaway with no intention of ever making it to the finish. That is, you got into the breakaway and saw how far you'd get, but you didn't think about winning."

The contrast with the current generation is complete. "Now if they get in a break, it's to arrive. You almost never see the water carriers anymore." Landa sees the arms race extending beyond climbing ability, the traditional differentiator. "Before, if you climbed well you already stood out. Now the one who doesn't climb as well takes much better care of his nutrition, pays attention to aerodynamics, and immediately catches up with you."

“Content making with Tadej Pogačar you don't do before the start of the Tour of Flanders”

Bert Roesems on managing Shimano's relationships with the world's top riders and teams

In the new issue of RIDE Magazine, former Belgian time trial champion Bert Roesems, now Sportmarketing Manager at Shimano Europe, described the logistical and commercial reality of supplying the top of the sport. Shimano holds contracts with Alpecin-Premier Tech, FDJ United-SUEZ, Groupama-FDJ United, Jayco AlUla, INEOS Grenadiers, Pauwels Sauzen-Altez, Picnic PostNL, Soudal-Quick-Step, UAE Emirates XRG, and XDS Astana. "Shimano wants to unburden them. Sometimes you're talking about 85 athletes at one team, each with five to ten bikes."

The commercial relationship with Pogačar illustrates where the industry has moved. "With Tadej Pogačar we do that too, to a certain degree. In December we recorded an hour of content with him for the entire year. That has really changed in the last ten years. I am much less at the races themselves. Content making you don't do before the start of the Tour of Flanders." The time pressure of race week makes bulk content creation at controlled moments in December the only practical solution.

The broader challenge Shimano faces is structural. "We are a mass producer and focused on the economic consumer market. Within that we try to offer the highest possible level to top riders to achieve their goals. It's not like in Formula 1 where we can quickly fabricate a unique addition. Smaller companies can be at an advantage there. That is a trend you do see in recent years. Our task is therefore to operate on two playing fields simultaneously with the same product."

“It will be a lot more about pure power and a bit less about elbows”

Matej Mohorič on how the shorter gravel version of Strade Bianche changes the race dynamic

Mohorič told Cyclingnews that the 16-kilometre reduction in gravel sectors this year will open the race up. "OK, probably UAE will try to adjust and make it harder from the start, but anyhow, it will allow more riders to still be involved towards the finale. So there will be less room for heroics, where the tenth-place finisher is 10 minutes down, and a bit more open." He knows what that adjustment looks like in practice. "I think they will make the race as difficult as they possibly can so they can have him launch from far out."

Mohorič co-leads alongside former gravel World Champion Pello Bilbao, with Attila Valter as another option. He is clear-eyed about the ceiling on his own ambitions relative to Pogačar. "I don't think I can match the power he has, so our strategy is to be there in the mix and then try to deliver the best possible result from the group we are in with my teammates. We have a strong team there, it's not just me."

🏆 THE SERGE BAGUET AWARD

Not awarded today

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

💬 QUICK QUOTES

“I'm a bit starstruck.” — Tadej Pogačar in Cyclinguptodate on the presence of Fabian Cancellara at the unveiling of a stone monument dedicated to Pogačar on one of Strade Bianche's sterrato sectors.

“Kittel has meant a lot to me here. He makes sure I don't get into my comfort zone and constantly have to do different kinds of training. That keeps me maximally motivated, something I missed at Jayco for example.” — Dylan van Groenewegen in the NOS Wielerpodcast on the role of sprint coach Marcel Kittel.

“I have done many stupid things, but I have always been loyal to my teammates.” — Mikel Landa in the Bajo El Maillot podcast with Laura Meseguer.

“I would say that in the last five years the junior category has become what the U23 category was ten years ago.” — Axel Merckx, General Manager of Hagens Berman Jayco, in SpazioCiclismo.

“Just the photos that are taken on those dusty white roads and in Siena are enough to make your heart rate go up. Even during the recon.” — Marianne Vos in In de Leiderstrui on what makes Strade Bianche special.

“Once I win that race, I'm ready to retire because my goal is completed.” — Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney in Cyclingnews on her love for Strade Bianche.

“I will be at the start in Siena with more question marks than I had hoped.” — Wout van Aert in Wielerflits.

“I got back on the bus after Omloop, and I was a mess: white trainers covered in mud, drink mix everywhere, blood on my hands” — and I'd been sitting in a car." — Geraint Thomas in the Watts Occurring podcast on how brutal Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was, even from the team car.

That's it for today. See you tomorrow 👋

Jay