The secret behind FDJ's classics takeover
Good morning,
These are today's quotes and interviews worth your time.
Stood out to me today: "The biggest risk is being afraid to attack."
¡Vamos!
🎤 INTERESTING INTERVIEWS
"That is why everyone is so happy to sacrifice themselves for her."
Lieselot Decroix on the secret behind FDJ United-SUEZ's spring success and Demi Vollering's impact
Performance manager Lieselot Decroix believes the new dominance of FDJ United-SUEZ comes down to cohesion and a shift in calendar. After a turbulent classics campaign last year, the French squad has already claimed three major one-day victories this spring, largely driven by Demi Vollering. Decroix pointed to a more united roster and the tactical addition of Franziska Koch, but emphasized that Vollering's own attitude is the true catalyst.
"Demi is a very grateful leader," Decroix told Sporza. "That is why everyone is so happy to sacrifice themselves for her. When Demi is at the start of a race, it gives the team an extra boost. Everyone gives 200 percent." Decroix noted that the riders are more dialed into each other this year, knowing that while they work for Vollering, they will also get their own opportunities.
Decroix also confirmed that Vollering will skip Paris-Roubaix to rest ahead of the Tour de France Femmes route recon and the upcoming Ardennes classics. "A debut in the Hell of the North? We have already talked about it with Demi and it will happen someday," she said. "But that has to be in a year when the Ardennes classics are slightly less important. Otherwise, she will just participate in Roubaix with the main goal of not crashing. Then you are basically starting with half a leg."
"You have the desire to ride like a madman, but my knee cannot handle it for now"
Tim Merlier on his mysterious knee injury and missing the heart of the spring classics
A mysterious knee injury has derailed the early season for Tim Merlier, keeping the Soudal Quick-Step sprinter sidelined during a crucial block of racing. He only returned to competition in late March at the GP Jean-Pierre Monseré, but the lingering pain has left him visibly frustrated.
"The pain started on the left, without a clear reason or without me remembering that I had bumped it anywhere," Merlier explained in a video released by Sporza. "I rested for two weeks and then suddenly I started getting pain on the right side too. You cannot explain that to anyone, but fate has decided. Unfortunately, I am missing a large part of the most beautiful period of the season."
Merlier admitted he cannot even bring himself to watch the races on television because it makes him too nervous and frustrated. Despite the compromised preparation, he confirmed he will line up for Scheldeprijs. "You have the desire to get on the rollers downstairs and ride like a madman, but my knee cannot handle it for now," he said.
"I called and said goobye. And I told her she had to tell our son that I loved him."
Damien Touzé on surviving medical negligence and a life-threatening crash in Oman
A high-speed crash over a light sensor at the Tour of Oman in February left Cofidis rider Damien Touzé with a fractured pelvis, a broken femur, and a shattered knee. The real nightmare began after he was transported to a local field hospital, where severe medical mismanagement nearly cost him his life.
Touzé detailed the harrowing ordeal to L'Equipe, describing how a ruptured spleen went initially undetected while his condition deteriorated rapidly. As his fever spiked to 40 degrees Celsius and his resting heart rate hit 100 beats per minute, team doctor Annemie Batjoens warned him he might not wake up from the emergency surgery. "At first I was in denial, I did not want to call my wife Sofia, but she insisted: 'Maybe you will never speak to her again,'" Touzé said. "So I called and said goodbye. And I told her she had to tell our son that I loved him."
The conditions in the hospital were alarming. Touzé recalled waking up placed next to garbage cans in a room swarming with flies. When he was finally evacuated to a hospital in Roeselare, surgeons discovered the doctors in Oman had failed to close his abdominal wall properly. Touzé is now facing a grueling nine-month rehabilitation process. "I want to get back on the bike and see what is possible," he said. "But let's be honest, a year without racing is a massive hurdle."
"It wasn't a sane thing to do."
Mathew Hayman on his obsession with Paris-Roubaix and the irrational indoor training block that defined his career
When Mathew Hayman fractured his radius at Omloop Nieuwsblad in 2016, his classics campaign appeared finished. Instead of resting, the Australian set up a turbo trainer in his garage, rested his cast on an old ladder, and pedaled for up to 20 hours a week. That stubborn, irrational decision ultimately laid the physical foundation for his legendary Paris-Roubaix victory six weeks later.
"You just lose your identity when you are a bike rider and you are not riding," Hayman told Rouleur. "I do not know why I was so committed to that. My advice to someone else would be to shut it down and rebuild for the next goal. It wasn't a sane thing to do, to start sitting on the home trainer for 20 hours a week."
Hayman entered that edition of Paris-Roubaix with zero expectations and strict orders to work for Team Jayco-AlUla leaders Luke Durbridge and Jens Keukeleire. As the race fractured on the pavé, his unorthodox preparation proved oddly perfect. "It was always in my head that the wheels are going to fall off soon. I've just been training on the turbo. There was a little element psychologically that I was protecting myself too," Hayman said. "I could see them moving and I kind of went back to some of the sports psychology that I've done in the past and it was like, I've got to give it a try."
Ten years after his shock victory, Hayman acknowledges the race has changed. Higher speeds from the gun and the advent of tubeless tires have made it harder for outsiders to survive. But the fundamental nature of the effort remains. "The way I got there was about resilience, and that's everything I stand for: being hard and just getting on with it," he noted, adding that the famous cobblestone trophy does not sit front and center at his house, largely hidden by his children's gymnastics trophies. "At the end of the day, you're exactly the same person. You still have kids at home. I'm still bottom of the rung in my house."
🏆 THE SERGE BAGUET AWARD
Not awarded today
Wonder what The Serge Baguet Award is all about? Check it out here.
💬 QUICK QUOTES
"All you guys are knuckleheads. Your director sportif should be fired. You guys should be sent back to amateur level racing as all of you guys do not know how to race your bike whatsoever." — Chris Horner on his YouTube channel, lambasting the tactical failures of Tadej Pogačar's rivals at the Ronde van Vlaanderen and underscoring the widening gap between the Slovenian and the rest of the peloton.
"It is not a race for beginners! These are two very great riders. If they start racing like that, I will stop watching cycling. You have to race to win, not try to be the smartest. You do not do that between great champions." — Adrie van der Poel, as told to L'Equipe, pushing back at critics who suggested his son Mathieu van der Poel should have refused to pull with Tadej Pogačar at the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
"The offenders have all been identified by now and a police report is currently being drawn up." — A spokesperson for the Belgian public prosecutor's office, as reported by WielerFlits, confirming that authorities are taking action against the riders who illegally crossed the train tracks during the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
"The plan was to attack on the final climb, although I went earlier than I wanted to. It was ambitious to attack so early and I actually regretted it after three minutes, but I kept pushing." — Nineteen-year-old Paul Seixas, via HLN, after executing a stunning 26-kilometer solo attack to win stage two of the Itzulia Basque Country.
"The biggest risk is being afraid to attack. I asked myself what I really had to lose." — Paul Seixas, speaking to Cycling Pro Net about the mindset behind his long-range mountaintop victory at the Itzulia Basque Country.
"I think it was crazy to see Seixas attack with 26 kilometers to go, but yesterday he already showed he was the strongest on a climb like this, which was very steep and hard. He also said he did not want to sit on, that he wanted to attack, and he has proved he is the strongest at this Itzulia." — Ion Izagirre, telling Cycling Pro Net how the French prodigy completely outclassed the field on the brutal stage two finale.
"The doctor's car just ran Mikel Landa down in a narrow and fast descent. And we have not received any apologies. He was 10 seconds behind the group ahead. Why does a doctor need to overtake riders? It is maddening sometimes! We do everything for safety and then you get things like this. As a team, you are powerless, but you take the hits." — Soudal Quick-Step general manager Jurgen Foré, venting his frustration to Het Nieuwsblad after an official race vehicle caused his GC leader to crash at the Itzulia Basque Country.
"Once I saw how he was riding, I just said to management: we cannot not support him. I was like, put me in the back. I do not really care. What we have here is something special. I do not want to get in the way of this." — Veteran climber Louis Meintjes on the Africa Rising Cycling Podcast, recalling the exact moment he voluntarily sacrificed his own GC ambitions at the 2022 Tour de France to work for a then-emerging Biniam Girmay.
That's it for today. See you tomorrow 👋
Jay