"What I need to do isn't on a datasheet"
Good morning,
These are today's quotes and interviews worth your time, nothing else.
This stood out to me today: "In some ways, I feel more important, more useful and therefore happier at Tudor than I did at Quick-Step."
¡Vamos!
🎤 INTERESTING INTERVIEWS
“In January I was still riding my best 3-minute values ever, but it couldn't go on like that”
Tiesj Benoot on his back surgery and what he missed most about not racing this spring
Tiesj Benoot made a wrong movement in the gym during a winter altitude camp with his new team, Decathlon CMA CGM. Pain followed the next day, and an MRI in late January confirmed a herniated disc. The timing was brutal.
As he told the HLN Wielerpodcast, what made it stranger was that his body gave no obvious signal. "Nothing abnormal, I thought. Everything is new, from my bike to the cleats. Almost all contact points with the bike had changed, but it soon turned out that wasn't it."
The hernia didn't stop him from producing numbers. He kept training. "I rode with that hernia and still hit my best ever 3-minute values. But it couldn't go on like that." Surgery followed, the classics were gone. The disappointment was real but manageable. "It was a setback to miss the classics, but I've been able to put it in perspective." What stung more was the timing. "The worst thing was that it would have been my first spring with my new team. I wanted to prove myself immediately."
Now, a month post-operation, he's progressing faster than expected and not rushing. "I don't want to go to the Tour at 80 percent. There's nothing in that." The autumn classics remain a genuine target. "I've always enjoyed racing in Montreal. I'd love to be there in Canada."
On his teammate Paul Seixas, Benoot offered a telling observation. "He's not fixated on wattage and nutrition. He's not the guy constantly checking his training data. I think there's still a lot of progress in him." And on the reported UAE interest: "It would be better for the race if he stays with us and challenges Pogacar from there."
“If Paul doesn't want to stay, that's his decision”
Decathlon CMA CGM manager Dominique Serieys on the fight to keep Paul Seixas
The Paul Seixas situation is not rumour. UAE Team Emirates XRG are interested, negotiations have paused, and Decathlon CMA CGM know exactly what they are dealing with.
Team manager Dominique Serieys spoke to Daniel Benson and was direct about it. "Honestly, I'm confident. If Paul doesn't want to stay, that's his decision. That's why I'm confident. But if he has faith in our project, then we'll continue together."
The French team secured Seixas early, before Patrick Lefevere came close to signing him for Soudal Quick-Step. His value has since increased sharply. A Tour de France debut looks likely this summer, which makes the next few months decisive for his market value. UAE operate on a budget of around €55-60 million a season, with Pogacar's salary alone estimated at €8 million. Decathlon CMA CGM have grown significantly, now at around €40 million, but the gap is real.
Serieys played his strongest card on longevity. "We're thinking about a long-term contract, because Decathlon CMA CGM's vision for the future goes beyond three years. It needs to be longer. Our vision for the future must go beyond 2030, towards 2035, and not many teams can offer that."
“There's no reason why women can't do it”
FDJ United - SUEZ performance manager Lieselot Decroix on the Angliru making its debut in the Vuelta Femenina
The Vuelta Femenina route was confirmed this week with the Alto del Angliru as the final day's summit finish. It will be the first time women race up it. At 12.55 km with an average gradient of 9.8 percent and a maximum of 23.5 percent, its reputation precedes it. "It's absolutely a mythical climb, super steep and very long," Decroix told Sporza. "But it's not impossible for women to climb. There's no reason why they can't do it."
The race impact will be decisive. "There's no doubt about it. Even if you have a 5-minute lead in the classification and you crack, you can forget it." Decroix also raised the question of whether a climb this fearsome might freeze the racing before it arrives, a dynamic that played out in the Tour de France Femmes around the Col de la Madeleine. Her read: possibly, but not necessarily badly. "The GC riders won't put all their energy into the other stages. But then maybe we get an open race, with breakaways that can go all the way."
The late announcement created its own problem. The route was released the day before the interview, with the race less than two months away. "If we'd known this course in November, we could have factored it into our selection much more carefully," she said. "We're not going to suddenly change our selection now. It's not like Demi Vollering is suddenly going to say: I'm going to ride the Vuelta after all." Recon of the Angliru is being planned. The ask for the future is simple: earlier publication.
“I felt better in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad”
Mathieu van der Poel on his stage win in Tirreno-Adriatico and his form heading into the classics
Mathieu van der Poel won the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in San Gimignano, taking a steep uphill sprint against Isaac del Toro and Giulio Pellizzari after a gravel sector 6.7 kilometres from the finish split the peloton.
After Matteo Jorgenson crashed on a slippery corner, only the three of them remained. Van der Poel also nearly went down. "I slipped a little in a slippery corner and my chain came off. I had to go to the limit to get back to them." He told Wielerflits the rain caught him out. "I have to be honest, I hadn't expected it to be that slippery."
He enjoyed the finish for what it was. "For the people watching at home it must have been great to see. And yes, I enjoyed it too. It was a beautiful finale: very hard, and San Gimignano is a wonderful city for a finish."
But in his own condition, he kept a useful piece of honesty in reserve. "I felt better in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. When you win a stage like this, you have no reason to complain. I'm here to try to get a little better for my important spring goals. I think we're on schedule."
On Del Toro's performance and what it means for Milan-San Remo: "I think they have a clear leader in Tadej Pogacar. If you see what UAE Emirates did last year on the Cipressa, I think Del Toro could play a crucial role in making the race really hard there. But every detail has to be right to do something like that on the Cipressa again. With a headwind they won't manage it."
On skipping Strade Bianche, which Del Toro finished third: "It's a beautiful race. But I don't think what happened today is comparable to Strade. If you see how Strade is developing, that classic is currently difficult to win for everyone except Tadej. But that's not the main reason I wasn't in Siena. With the team I made a plan from the cyclocross season towards the spring classics. I usually need some time to get back into form on the road after cyclocross."
“To enjoy cycling, I have to ride with my heart”
Julian Alaphilippe on his move to Tudor, racing on instinct, and why he won't stop at a low point
Julian Alaphilippe spent ten years at Soudal Quick-Step before moving to Tudor last season. The move, as he framed it to NZZ, was necessary. "I always compare it to fire. Changing teams was the extra block of wood that had to be thrown onto the fire."
At Tudor he has taken on a mentoring role alongside his own racing. "In some ways, I feel more important, more useful and therefore happier at Tudor than I did at Quick-Step. It motivates me to be part of a team that is finding its place in the peloton and will hopefully keep getting stronger."
He is clear-eyed about data, and also clear-eyed about its limits. "What I need to do, when, where and how isn't on a datasheet." The instinctive, attacking style stays. "I can still ride the bike the way I do. Otherwise I should stop. I do not want to change my racing style." And beneath the racing philosophy sits something more personal. "To enjoy cycling, I have to ride with my heart."
The difficult years that preceded Tudor did not break him. They sharpened him. "I wanted to win that fight with myself. So I took my time and did everything I could to get better so I could come back. In the end, I'm a fighter."
His contract runs through 2028 and he is not counting down to it. "I don't know whether I'll be ready to stop then. Right now I'm so focused, so deeply involved in cycling, and I still love riding my bike. I take it season by season."
🏆 THE SERGE BAGUET AWARD
“We did a fucking good performance, but yeah, just not a win, so I'm very disappointed.”
— Iván Romeo, Cycling Pro Net
Wonder what The Serge Baguet Award is all about? Check it out here.
💬 QUICK QUOTES
“Astana is the team I felt most at home and I'm a bit nostalgic when I think back to my time there.” — Mikel Landa in the Laura Meseguer podcast when asked which team is his favourite team.
“We had a rough couple of years, but we're on the way back.” — Geraint Thomas in Cycling Pro Net after Ineos Grenadiers' TTT win in Paris-Nice.
“Paul Lapeira, my teammate and one of the better punchers, was doing 750 watts at the moment of the attack and simply had to let go. That must have been a brutal moment.” — Oliver Naesen in the HLN Wielerpodcast on Pogacar's attack in Strade Bianche.
“Yeah, I regret not riding a little bit. It's a race I would love to participate in. Maybe one day I will do it again with a different winter program.” — Mathieu van der Poel in CyclingNews on not riding Strade Bianche this year.
“It was a bit of a childish reaction but I was a bit frustrated with the motorbike coming next to me. It's not allowed and it does slow you down. I should have just waved him away but…” — Ethan Hayter in CyclingNews on his middle finger gesture during the Tirreno-Adriatico TT.
“I am quite ok! Nothing broken, but my whole right side is full of scratches and a lot of superficial wounds. It'll hurt for a while but no worries for the rest of the season.” — Thymen Arensman on Instagram after his crash in the gravel stage of Tirreno Adriatico.
“I didn't realize Mathieu van der Poel almost crashed in that corner, because I was so focused on the fact that I looked ridiculous because I nearly crashed there.” — Isaac del Toro in Cycling Pro Net on his near-crash moment in Tirreno Adriatico.
That's it for today. See you tomorrow 👋
Jay