Tag: Interview

Ben Swift Optimistic about Form, Targeting GP Ouest-France, Tour of Britain, and World Championships

After ending his 2013 campaign early to undergo surgery to fix a painful shoulder injury, Team Sky’s Ben Swift is back to his best in 2014. Following a strong spring and early summer, he took a break from racing, and then returned to competition at the beginning of this month with a few goals for the late-season calendar in mind. With one of those goals, Plouay’s GP Ouest-France, only two days away, he talked to VeloHuman about his season so far, his current form, and his expectations for the next few weeks of racing.

Swift started the year off very well; among several strong results, he contested a sprint finish after nearly 300 kilometers to land a podium place in Milano-Sanremo, and took a win at the Vuelta al País Vasco in a stage with some serious climbing challenges before the finish. With those results, Swift showed that he had not just recovered, but that he was feeling quite good and continuing to develop an already versatile skillset. For Swift, the success was directly attributable to his newly repaired shoulder, which has also given him a major morale boost.

“Last year and the years before, having that injury, you just can’t get the training that you need,” he explained to VH. “Morale’s not good and every time it hurts . . . you just can’t get the work done and you end up just getting yourself into a hole. So we made the call at the end of last year to finish really early and just get it fixed, and give myself a lot of time, and it seems to have worked. And once you get that confidence back really, I think that was another big thing, to prove not only to myself, but to everybody, that I could be at that level again, where I showed that I could be. So it was good to get that confidence back and that morale back.”

Swift put in more race mileage in May and June, riding in the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de Suisse and then landing a runner-up performance at the British National Championship Road Race. After Nationals, he took some time off to rest and recover for a few late-season goals. His return since then has had ups and downs: crashes marred his first race back, the Tour de Pologne, but days after leaving Poland he landed a 2nd-place finish in the RideLondon Classic. Last weekend’s Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg was his next target, but Swift wasn’t able to put in the performance he’d hoped for. Despite that, he is currently optimistic about his upcoming objectives.

“Tour of Poland . . . obviously that didn’t go too well, two crashes and a puncture. But I came good again in the RideLondon. And then I had a really heavy training block after RideLondon and before Hamburg. I was obviously expecting a lot more for myself in Hamburg, but I’m hoping it was just a bad day,” he said. “I haven’t had too many bad days this year. That was one of the first ones where I’ve been a protected rider and just had nothing. It was like, do one effort and that was it, I’m fatigued. So hopefully it was just a bit of training fatigue. I had a nice week in Nice this week with my soigneur, so hopefully in Plouay we can turn things around. But in the long term I’m not too worried. It would be nice to get a good result in Plouay and show that the legs are coming back but if not, I’ll just keep going easy and try to make the most out of Tour of Britain.”

Sunday’s GP Ouest-France in Plouay does have the sort of profile that would seem to suit the talents of Swift and his teammates, which has him feeling good about the opportunity to try for a top result.

“We’ve got Edvald [Boasson Hagen] starting to improve a hell of a lot now. He’s come into some really good form, so I can see it being myself and Edvald being sort of joint leaders for it. They’re quite interesting races these two, Hamburg and Plouay. You’ve got a lot of people that are quite fatigued from the Tour and some that are starting to wind down for the season, so you’ve got a real mix of riders. It’s just about making the most of these opportunities, and I think that with Edvald and the rest of the guys, we’ve got a strong team and I think there’s a lot of motivation inside the team,” he said.

Though the startlist is not yet set in stone, Swift identified Simon Gerrans and Alexander Kristoff as likely rivals and riders worth watching at the GP Ouest-France. After his trip to Plouay, Swift has his sights set on the Tour of Britain, a race in which he’s already taken a stage victory (back in 2009).

“Hopefuly I’ll go into it fresh. I’ll be chasing stage wins, that’s for sure, I’ll try and make it at least one stage win there, and then it’s the final push for the World Championships,” he said.

Hilly but with a flat finish, the profile for the World Championship Road Race in Ponferrada, Spain certainly looks like one that might fit Swift’s skillset. Having done some recon of the course already, he does see opportunity, but acknowledges that it will be a hard race to predict.

“It’s quite an interesting [parcours]. I think it’s open to a lot of scenarios really. It just depends on the race, how it develops as it goes along. I don’t think the climbs are that hard on their own but when they’re combined, then towards the end of the race it’s going to be a bit of a different story. So it’s going to be interesting, and it’s all about saving as much energy as possible, I reckon,” he said.

He is particularly excited about the growing number of British riders who could find this type of challenge to their liking.

“If I saw this sort of profile in a stage race, I’d be really excited for it. It’s something that, I think, as a nation, we haven’t really had any out-and-out riders for it. But obviously this year, we’ve had the Yateses [twins Adam and Simon Yates] step up really well. Pete Kennaugh, it’s a perfect course for him. I think we’ll have a lot of cards to play,” Swift said.

The World Championships may yet be a few weeks off, but with 229 kilometers of racing and plenty of climbs along the way, Sunday’s GP Ouest-France will offer an indication of where Swift is in terms of form. If he’s able to return to return to the level that saw him landing consistently impressive results in the spring and early summer, he’ll have a few good opportunities to add to his palmarès before the season comes to a close.

-Dane Cash

Photo by Marc.

August 29, 2014
Giacomo Nizzolo “Really, Really, Really Motivated” for Plouay’s GP Ouest-France after Runner-up Performance at Vattenfall Cyclassics

Fresh off of a 2nd-place finish at the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg, Giacomo Nizzolo of Trek Factory Racing is looking forward to having another shot at a big win in the upcoming GP Ouest-France, where he was 2nd in 2013. Nizzolo’s 2014 campaign has had its gratifying moments and its frustrating ones, and plenty of moments that have been a bit of both, and he took a few minutes out of his midweek preparation to talk to VH about his season so far and his expectations for Sunday’s race in Plouay.

Nizzolo started off the year strong with a victory in the Tour de San Luis, but soon after, he suffered a broken collarbone as a result of a training crash. The painful injury would be just the first in a series of difficult health issues that have hampered him on and off throughout the year. Nizzolo described the persistent challenge of being slowed by injury and illness this season when his form has otherwise been very strong as “one of the hardest” of his career.

“I had great training camps in the winter and I was in really good shape at the beginning of the season and then unluckily I broke my collarbone. I think that the first part of the season could have been really successful for me, but then with the crash everything was gone,” he explained to VeloHuman. “And then, mentally and physically, it was really hard to get my shape back for the Giro.

“I came to the Dauphiné to try to get a victory after the Giro because I knew I was in great shape and normally after a big tour I’m good. So I went there, and then on the only stage for the sprinters, with sixty kilometers to go, I crashed and I broke a bone in my shoulder. I only discovered the fracture twenty days later. I thought it was something with the tendon and I planned some therapy to try to treat the tendon, but I kept moving the shoulder and it was definitely not [feeling] the right way.

“Then, I stopped, I took a break, and then tried to work hard for the second part of the season. I went to altitude again, I came down, I went to Wallonie and got the stage victory. But still I felt that something was wrong, and I got this virus. I was feeling it actually until the Eneco Tour last week. Even last week I was not feeling so good.”

He finally started to feel better in time for Hamburg’s Vattenfall Cyclassics, where he put in a strong ride to finish 2nd behind Alexander Kristoff in a sprint. His sixth 2nd-place performance on the year (he notched four of them in the Giro d’Italia), it was certainly something to be proud of, but at the same time, a frustrating result. Nizzolo acknowledged that it is hard to feel satisfied when he finishes a race as runner-up.

“I’m disappointed. Sometimes, third is much better than second because when you’re second you’re so close to victory and you’re missing really only a few things to win,” he explained. “When you’re third you can say, ‘Well there was one guy stronger than me even if the winner was not there.’ So I am a little bit frustrated. But on the other side, when I think about it days later, I say, ‘Okay, in the end, what can I say? I did my best.’ . . . Sometimes I make mistakes, but for example in Hamburg, this was the best I could bring home, especially when you think that I was coming from a week that was not the best. On one side, you’re disappointed, but on the other you can be proud to be there.”

Frustrating though they may be, the near misses don’t stop Nizzolo from working hard to find areas of improvement. In the Giro, for example, he tried to fine tune his timing with each finish.

“In the Giro I tried different ways to win the stage. One time I waited, but he [Nacer Bouhanni] started [his sprint]. Other times, I tried to anticipate the sprint and start before him. You look at the videos and you look at what maybe you did wrong and what you can make better and, for sure, you can learn something. . . . When you lose you can always learn something. Even when you win. When I win, I say sometimes, ‘This could be better.’ Every time, you have to learn something.”

He now has his sights set on the upcoming GP Ouest-France in Plouay, a major objective for the remainder of his 2014 racing calendar. Hillier than the Vattenfall Cyclassics, the GP Ouest-France came down to a sprint last year, but it’s a tough event that does encourage riders to attempt longer-range moves.

“Plouay was one of my targets from the top of the season,” Nizzolo said. “Hamburg and Plouay are some of my favorite races. Sunday in Plouay is harder than Hamburg, but it’s a race that I like (like Hamburg) so I will go there really, really, really motivated and I will have the maximum support from the team, as I had in Hamburg. In Hamburg I had the support from the team even when I was not in the best shape. So in Plouay I will have everybody helping me and we will go for it.”

The race is still a few days away, but he already has a sense of who his main rivals might be.

“I think, more or less, it will be the same competitors as Hamburg, though it’s harder and the climb is closer to the finish, so guys like Van Avermaet, Trentin, Albasini, Gerrans . . . they could make some action at the end so that for us as sprinters it will be harder to get results,” he said.

After the GP Ouest-France, Nizzolo expects to take on the Brussels Cycling Classic and the Tour de l’Eurométropole, among other races. With the World Championship Road Race not far off, Nizzolo acknowledges that selection to the Italian team is something he thinks about, but he isn’t sure how well the parcours suits him.

“I checked the circuit a few months ago and it’s hard. The climbs are hard but there is not much recovery between them . . . and there are more than 4000 meters of altitude, so it will be hard. For a guy like me, I would need to be in the best shape to be there. So honestly at the moment I will go for Plouay and then we will make a check and discuss,” he said.

Looking beyond the 2014 season, Nizzolo is signed with Trek through 2016 after renewing with the team in the middle of this year. The team isn’t laying any specific goals for these next few seasons at his feet, but Nizzolo has targets in mind.

“I don’t think we have particular goals, but I see and they see probably that I improve every year a little bit. So we will try to go for stages in the big tours and then a semi-classic like Hamburg or Plouay,” he said.

On strong form and, at least for the moment, unhampered by illness or injury, Nizzolo will have an opportunity at meeting one of those goals in four days at the GP Ouest-France in Plouay. Narrowly missing out on a win there last year, and likely to face some of the same rivals that contested the recent Vattenfall Cyclassics, Nizzolo will have that little bit of extra familiarity with the situation on the road as the day nears its conclusion, which will certainly be a useful asset in his attempt to reach the next step on the podium this time around.

-Dane Cash

Photo by Jérémy Jännick.

August 27, 2014
Leopold König on Overcoming Injury, Tour de France Success, and What’s Next in 2014

Given his 7th overall finish in this year’s Tour de France, you might think it’s been smooth-sailing all year for NetApp-Endura’s Leopold König, but almost from day one this season, things have not exactly gone according to plan for the rising Czech star. Having battled through a knee injury early in the year and a tough bout with illness more recently, 26-year-old König is now stateside to participate in the USA Pro Challenge, and he battled spotty reception in the Colorado mountains (much to the gratitude of VeloHuman) to answer a few questions about his fight to overcome one obstacle after another on his way to some fantastic results on the sport’s biggest stage, and what lies ahead for the rest of the year.

König closed out his 2013 season on a high note, notching a stage win and 9th overall at the Vuelta a España, delivering the kind of performance for Pro Continental squad NetApp-Endura that announced to everyone just how deserving they were of a wildcard invitation. With an invite to ride in the Tour de France in 2014, it was fairly obvious what NetApp-Endura’s plan would be: build a team around this fast-rising talent to support his GC ambitions and again prove themselves worthy of their wildcard invite.

With the sport’s main event on the horizon, König set out to build his form over the early months to be at his best for the big race in July, but just as the season began, his plans were derailed by a nagging knee injury.

“Ligament issues,” he told VeloHuman. “It wasn’t too serious but the problem was the healing process lasted so long, and the only way to fix it was to relax the knee and not put any pressure on it. So that was very frustrating because we didn’t know how long it would last and finally it was more than one month, it was actually a long time.”

Any plans to target a particular aspect of his skillset for improvement in training went out the window.

“To be honest, there wasn’t much time to get specific training in, and we had to adjust a lot of training because I was one month off the bike and it was just a race with time to get to the Tour in time and to get prepared,” he said. “I actually just did one real training block in the Sierra Nevada that was more focused on climbing, and then I went to Bayern and the Dauphiné. So there wasn’t really much time to get specific training in for the Tour.”

As might be expected, not being able to prepare for the biggest goal of his career was not easy for König.

“I tried to stay relaxed and not really think about it but it was pretty hard to manage mentally because, as I mentioned, we didn’t know when I would be able to train properly, or when I would be able to race,” he explained. “I tried to stay relaxed but there were moments when it wasn’t really easy. But finally it worked out.”

At last on his way back to recovery (he finished 4th at the Bayern Rundfahrt and 11th at the Critérium du Dauphiné), König took on his very first Tour de France with the added expectations that come with being a team leader.

“Everything was much bigger, all the pressure, the media attention, and the things around are just bigger than the Giro and Vuelta, but we went into the Tour with a strong team and we wanted to prove to the organizers that the wildcard we got was worth it,” he said.

König’s Tour campaign itself got off to a rocky start. He lost more time than many of his GC rivals on the cobbles and then crashed hard on Stage 8, losing several minutes. At the end of Stage 9 he was already more than nine minutes off the lead and sitting in 28th place. However, from then on he put in one great ride after another (including a 3rd place performance on Stage 13), climbing higher and higher up the GC leaderboard as the Tour became more mountainous. König attributes his strong second half to his endurance and his ability to get into a groove.

“I think that’s just the way my body is built,” he said. “I’ve done just 2 Grand Tours but I can feel that every week I’m improving and feeling better. The first ten days of the Tour were especially hard and unlucky for me but then I just started to feel day by day more relaxed and powerful.”

By the penultimate stage of the race, König had soared all the way to 9th place, but a stellar time trial catapulted him even higher. He jumped to 7th overall in the Stage 20 ITT, to the surprise of many, though König himself had been anticipating success in the chrono all along.

“To be honest I expected that. I looked forward to this TT as it was supposed to suit me well. And finally you know that’s the last real stage of the Tour and the race is almost done so I really wanted to enjoy it,” he said.

In spite of an inability to train as planned in the run-up to the race, and further difficulty in the first few stages of the Tour de France, König finished 7th overall, among some very impressive company. Now with two Grand Tour Top 10s under his belt, he has cemented his status as one of the sport’s brightest young GC talents. After a short rest period following the Tour, König is now focused on a few late-season goals. He is currently racing in the USA Pro Challenge, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, this part of the season has not been without difficulties of its own, difficulties that saw him lose time on the opening day of the Pro Challenge, though he still has ambitions for the racing that remains.

“On the way to Colorado I got some virus and spent two days in bed with fever so my GC ambitions are gone but I want to try to win at least one stage,” König said. “After Colorado I’m supposed to race the Tour of Britain, which I really like.”

Somewhere in between all the racing, König has also had to find time to think about his future. He’s in the final year of his contract with NetApp-Endura, and having notched so much success (and shown some serious mental toughness battling difficulties along the way) over the past two years, he has plenty of suitors hoping to win his services in 2015 and beyond. While several big-name riders have signed in the past few weeks, König has taken his time weighing offers, but that may be about to change.

“Things are moving ahead now so it’s going to be sorted out very soon,” he said.

After delivering Top 10 performances in his first two Grand Tours, König’s impending decision will be closely watched around the sport. Having established himself as a capable GC contender not easily deterred from his goals, Leopold König is certain to make waves in whatever team kit he is wearing in 2015.

-Dane Cash

Photos by TNE/BrakeThrough Media.

August 19, 2014
VeloHuman Up-and-comer Q&A Series: Belkin’s Nick van der Lijke

For the fourth entry in the Up-and-comer Q&A Series, VeloHuman talked to Belkin’s Nick van der Lijke. Nick is only 22 years old, and was just 21 when Belkin offered him a spot on their team after a very successful 2013 campaign that saw him win the Beverbeek Classic and Kreiz Breizh Elites. He started his 2014 campaign at the Vuelta a Andalucía and then raced in a number of one-day events, including the Dwars door Vlaanderen and Scheldeprijs, before a busy May and June with starts in the Tour of Turkey, the Tour of California, the Critérium du Dauphiné (his first WorldTour event), and the World Ports Classic. A day after competing in the Dutch National Championship Road Race, he talked to VH about his season, what he has learned so far, and his goals for the future.

VH: Nick, I have to start by asking about the Dutch Championship race on Sunday. You attacked very early in the race. I’m wondering: were you just trying to get home as fast as possible to watch the World Cup game against Mexico?

NvdL: Of course! (Nick laughs). No, no, I thought it was the best chance for me, because we had some big riders waiting until the end, and there were some riders going for the break, and I was one of them, so I tried to get into the break and I succeeded. I think it was a good opportunity, but I hoped that Garmin would also join the breakaway and they didn’t—so it was a little bit too hard to stay until the end.

VH: You did stay out front for quite a while, though, and it seems that that is a target of yours this season, getting into those breakaways. That was something that Belkin had talked about for the Tour of California earlier this month as well. Now that you’re at the top level, riding against these top teams, how hard it is to get into the breakaways?

NvdL: It’s much different from last year. . . . It’s harder, everyone can ride the bike very well. It’s much harder than last year. Last year, you just had to be strong at the right moment and then you’re in the breakaway, but this year it’s different. I was really happy that yesterday I succeeded getting into the breakaway. I think it’s nice for the upcoming races.

VH: Do you enjoy the challenge of getting into the breakaway and then spending a hard day out front?

NvdL: Yeah. And also you’re getting stronger, being in the breakaway. Sometimes you just have to get stronger and stronger. . . . When you are stronger you can wait till the end, but right now I have to take the chances and be in the breakaway, and maybe with a little bit of luck, stay in the front.

VH: You had a great 2013 with the Rabobank Development team. You won your first race of the year, the Beverbeek Classic, and notched a collection of other victories and strong results, including Top 10s at the Under 23 versions of Flanders and Paris-Tours. What was your first thought when you realized that you would be making that jump up from a Continental Team to the WorldTour with Belkin?

NvdL: Well, for a long time it was a little bit hard: I had the results, but in June I hadn’t heard anything from any team, so I was a little bit scared. It was at the time that Euskaltel stopped, and some other teams stopped, so it became harder and harder. So I was really happy when Belkin called, and also, it was after Kreiz Breizh, which I’d won, so I was really happy. But starting was really hard, I did not have the perfect winter. In January, I had to go easy for two weeks with training, so it was a little bit hard at the start of the season. But now after California I’m getting better and better, I think. From now it’s just getting better and better, hopefully without any more problems with the body.

VH: When you first arrived at Belkin, did the team give you a sense of what your role would be in your first year?

NvdL: Yeah, just learning and getting stronger. But also, they said they would give me the opportunity to find the specialty for me, because uphill I’m good, and on the flat I’m good, and in the sprint I’m good, and . . . though it’s a little bit hard for me at the moment, I think I have found a little bit of a specialty which I can get better at in the winter, so that could be easier for the next few years.

VH: You’ve also been doing a fair bit of a leadout work, and that seems to be going well. Theo Bos, Barry Markus, and Moreno Hofland have all gotten some strong results with you involved in the leadout train. Are you getting comfortable with that role as well?

NvdL: Yeah, it’s a much different role . . . but in the first part of the season I think it was better for me because the races were less hard and because I was not in really good shape. So I think it was better for me to get stronger and get used to the level.

VH: You rode on the Rabobank Development Team with a number of your current teammates, including Hofland and Markus and Wilco Kelderman. What’s it like being together again at this level? Did you all expect to be here together at some point?

NvdL: We talked about it when we were Juniors and U23. It’s a little bit funny that we’re riding with each other now. It’s nice, and I know them very well and they know me, so you know what you’ve got with each other.

VH: The Critérium du Dauphiné in June was your first WorldTour race. Can you talk about how that compared to races you’d done in the past?

NvdL: The first stage I had some stomach issues. It was much harder than I expected but the first days were really hard. I thought, “Uh . . . what’s this?” But I think the last four days were getting better and better, and the last two days were really good. I could give the best of myself for Wilco.

VH: What does your racing calendar look like going forward?

NvdL: I don’t know yet. I think maybe after next week, I’ll have a race program for the next two months. But for now, till July 20th, I have nothing on the program, so first I have a little bit of vacation, and then just easy training and then back to hard training.

VH: Are you going anywhere for vacation?

NvdL: Yeah, I’m going with my girlfriend to Germany.

VH: Great!

NvdL: Yeah, it’s really nice. I look forward to it.

VH: Do you have any specific goals for the rest of this season?

NvdL: I think there will be some one-day races. I hope, and I always thought, that Canada, Quebec and Montreal, that circuit . . . maybe . . . I’ll be good at it. . . . I really like that circuit.

VH: One of the biggest stories of the past few weeks has been the news of Belkin’s departure from the sponsorship role coming sooner than expected. How are you handling the sponsorship uncertainty?

NvdL: Yeah, I didn’t expect it. So I thought, “Oh Belkin stopped? I thought they were also in for next year . . .” But then I read the article . . . and I thought “Ugh, another problem.” After last year it was really hard to find a sponsor, and now it’s getting much harder I think, but the team says it’s looking good and that, probably, we will find a sponsor. Otherwise I have to look for other teams. I have different feelings about it. It’s nice to have a two-year contract but you want to be in a team and you want to keep together. You want to ride the next year with them and to get nice results and good team performances.

VH: One last question. You have a very broad skillset, as you mentioned earlier, good on the hills, good on the flats. You said that the team wanted to give you a chance to find your specialty; now that you’re progressing through the season, have you started to figure out what sorts of races you’re targeting in the future in your career?

NvdL: Yeah, I think not the Grand Tour races but the six- and seven-day races, like California. Those races are, I think, perfect for me. Hopefully I’m getting stronger uphill also, so maybe in the next few years I could do something also in the GC, that would be really nice of course, but going for stage wins is the first target for me.

Nick is hoping that the improved form he saw in June continues to translate into better and better results for the rest of the season. While his teammates take on the Tour de France, he will look to perfect that form with some extended training time over the next few weeks. Belkin’s sponsorship status will be of particular importance to the trajectory of his career, as he is one of the few riders on his team signed on for multiple years. However, with the sort of ability that caught Belkin’s eye in the first place and a clear desire to use every race as an opportunity to get stronger, he is well-positioned for success, whatever happens.

-Dane Cash

Photo by Naoto Sato.

July 1, 2014
VeloHuman Up-and-comer Q&A Series: Giant-Shimano’s Chad Haga

Chad Haga climbing Mount Diablo at the 2014 Amgen Tour of California | Photo: Naoto Sato

The WorldTour may be taking a break before the July’s Tour de France, but the VeloHuman Up-and-comer Q&A Series is here to hold you over until the racing picks back up again. In this third installment, VH talks to Giant-Shimano’s Chad Haga, on a brief summer break from competition. Chad joined the Dutch squad after a breakout 2013 in which he took 10th in the Tour of California, 2nd in the Volta ao Alentejo, and a stage at the Tour of Elk Grove. The 25-year-old American is something of a rarity in the peloton: he holds a bachelor’s degree (in mechanical engineering), having graduating from Texas A&M before kicking off his pro career. We talked about adapting to racing on the WorldTour and Giant-Shimano’s world-beating sprint train, among many other things.

VH: Where are you spending summer break?

CH: I’m staying in Lucca, Italy [Chad’s home base in Europe].

VH: How are you settling in? You live with [Garmin-Sharp’s] Ben King, is that right?

CH: Yep. Settling into Lucca specifically has gone pretty easily. It’s a laid back little town and the apartment is really well located inside the wall. Neither of us has a car and we get along just fine. The Italian lifestyle is great and the roads are terrific. That’s part of why I’m spending my break here. I haven’t spent a lot of time to experiencing the city or exploring, so I’m looking forward to doing that over the next few weeks.

VH: How do you plan on spending your time off from racing?

CH: Specifically, I’m not sure yet. I would like to make a trip over to Siena to see their famous horse races in July, Il Palio. I visited Siena last fall and learned about these races and thought that it would be really awesome to go, and now I’ve got the opportunity to do that. But besides that I don’t have any really detailed plans for how I’ll spend my break. So far I’ve just been doing a lot of relaxing and reading and playing the piano.

VH: You were 10th overall in the 2013 Tour of California so obviously you’ve done big races in the past, and you’ve done well in them. But in March you started in your first WorldTour event, the Volta a Catalunya. You said in your blog that it was much harder than the prior year’s Tour of California. Can you describe what it is that makes racing at the WorldTour level so much more difficult?

CH: At the WorldTour level, generally every race is longer. I added up all the race kilometers that I had last year compared to this year and divided by the number of race days and on average, every race is 30 kilometers longer, so you’re talking about close to an hour longer every single race, and on top of that it’s a higher level of racing. At the WorldTour races, there’s no Continental teams. Every single WorldTour team is there. It’s just a very high level of racing, it’s very demanding and that takes adjustment.

VH: At Catalunya you were part of a squad that launched Luka Mezgec to three wins, and then in the Dauphiné you and the rest of Giant-Shimano drilled it on the front in the closing kilometers of the third stage to set up Nikias Arndt for victory. Have you been working a lot on the leadout in your training with the team?

CH: That’s been a big area of development for me, learning how to do it and the skills and the technique and the mental training required to pull off something like that for a rider like me, who’s not so comfortable with it in the first place.

VH: Obviously Giant-Shimano is doing something right with the leadouts because you’ve become this sprint powerhouse of the WorldTour. You’re winning stages in Catalunya and the Dauphiné with Mezgec and Arndt, and of course you have huge names like Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb. Are you able to identify anything that Giant-Shimano is doing differently that is setting up all these guys for so many wins?

CH: It seems to me that we do a very good job, when things go right and when things go wrong, either way, we always break down the stage in detail and analyze everything we did: what we did right and what we need to change. We just do a very good job of analyzing everything so that we can be even better in the future, and it seems to carry over from race to race and so we continue to get better at it.

Photo: Giant-Shimano

VH: What is the skillset that you feel you’ve improved the most since joining the team?

CH: I guess it would have to be positioning. I still have a lot of work to do with that but I feel that I’ve gotten much better at staying with my teammates when it’s important, and the fight for position in leadouts and into the base of climbs.

VH: You’re into music; do you listen to anything in particular when you’re on the trainer?

CH: If I’m warming up for a time trial, it’s very specific music. For the past two years, the only thing I really listen to when I’m warming up for a time trial is a band called Periphery.

VH: That’s a rock band right?

CH: Yeah. They’re like . . . tech metal.

VH: Was there a reason that that became your routine before the time trial?

CH: I just love their music in the first place, it always gets me pumped up. I think the first time trial I listened to them, I won. It hasn’t always worked out that way since then but it’s my go-to warm up music.

VH: You’re living in Italy and you’re riding for a Dutch team; are you picking up any languages? What’s the predominant language spoken on the team?

CH: Well everybody speaks English, which is very good, I can communicate and bond with my teammates. But aside from that, there’s half a dozen other languages spoken on the team around the dinner table, so it’s a lot of different dialects and languages bouncing around.

VH: Speaking of communicating and bonding, are there any veteran riders on the team that you’ve been able to form a relationship with and learn from so far?

CH: Roy Curvers and [John] Degenkolb. I’ve done a lot of races with them and we get along well, and both of them have a lot of experience and can do a lot of teaching. I really enjoy racing with them and learning from them.

VH: Where do you see yourself fitting in as a rider over the next few years? Obviously you have the all-rounder skillset, and you’re excellent in the time trial. What sort of races do you see yourself targeting?

CH: I . . . (Chad laughs) have not thought that far ahead. I hope to be able to really compete for the GC in weeklong stage races, at the Tour of California level, 2.HC, and hopefully at the WorldTour level. In the meantime I really enjoy the opportunity to go on the attack and get into breakaways.

VH: After your summer break is over, what is next on the program for 2014?

CH: Race-wise, I don’t know yet, that’s still up in the air being decided. I go to a three-week altitude training camp in France during mid-July so that’s the most immediate thing on my calendar.

VH: Do you have any particular goals for the rest of 2014?

CH: I would really love to win something before the year ends, but I don’t have a target race in mind. I take every race as it comes and look for opportunities. I would love to get selected to race the Vuelta. I know that’s a possibility, so I have high hopes for that, and I’d love to return to the World Championships and race the team time trial.

VH: Has Giant-Shimano given you an indication of what their expectations or goals are for you in your first year?

CH: They don’t expect me to get a result in a specific race; there is no real target race in that sense. They just want me to work as hard as I can and learn as much as I can, and use this as a building year in the hope of having a breakout year next year. It helps a lot. There is pressure, of course, to do my job and work as hard as I can, but to not really have any weight on my shoulders makes for a really smooth transition to this level.

VH: You have a mechanical engineering degree, so obviously you’re comfortable with math. Do you tend to pay a lot of attention to your power data while you’re riding, or do you try to ride according to how you feel and leave the analysis for after the race?

CH: I have to cover up my data during the race because I will obsess over it to the detriment of my racing. I definitely analyze it very in-depth after the race, and then our team also has our own data guru for further analysis, but I save that for after the race, because otherwise I would never look up from my power meter!

VH: I’m sure it was a big decision at first, but do you feel you’ve made the right call foregoing an engineering career for now?

CH: Yeah, at least for now, I’m really glad I did. I’ve got the degree to fall back on, so I’m glad that I finished it, but I think this was the perfect opportunity to really go for it, so I have no regrets.

VH: Was there a particular race, maybe during your very successful 2013, at which you felt “Hey, I have a future in this”?

CH: I think that when I first realized that I might be on the cusp of a breakout year was in Portugal last year, at the start of the season. One of our first races, we did the Volta ao Alentejo. I never won anything which was really frustrating, but I was on the podium for multiple stages and on the GC, and was having a great ride. It was after that race where I was first contacted by a Pro Tour team, and I realized that this could actually happen.

VH: What has been the biggest surprise in your first year?

CH: Hm. Just that the racing is so much harder! I knew it was going to be harder, everybody told me it would be harder but you still don’t realize it until you get into the races and then you realize, “Hey wait a minute, this is freakin’ hard!”

While some of his teammates are hunting stages in July’s Tour, Chad will be doing plenty of riding of his own, also in France. After that, there are a number of possibilities for his next race. Chad showed in this year’s Tour of California the toughness required to spend a long day out front in a very high level race, a good sign that the victory he is hunting may not be far off.

-Dane Cash

June 23, 2014
VeloHuman Up-and-comer Q&A Series: Astana’s Evan Huffman

Evan Huffman on the front at the Tour of Oman. | Photo: Astana Pro Team

Next up in the VH Q&A Series: 24-year-old Evan Huffman. After making a name for himself with several impressive performances (especially in time trials) in his native USA, he joined Astana last season. Since then, he has made starts in a variety of different races, not just in Europe, but also in Qatar, Oman, Turkey, and China. Now in his second year, he has learned a great deal about adjusting to the pace of WorldTour racing, speaking Italian, and plenty more.

VH: You’re in Girona now taking a bit of a break from racing, is that right?

EH: Right.

VH: What’s the first thing you do when you get back to Girona after you’ve been racing?

EH: Buy food. And I unpack everything, and just get settled back into the apartment.

VH: What is your favorite thing to eat when you finally get back home after a hard race?

EH: I eat a pretty consistent diet all the time. I have cereal for breakfast, and usually just rice and/or chicken, salad, nothing special.

VH: So that’s pretty much true leading into a race as well?

EH: I keep it pretty easy: chicken or salmon, something with a lot of rice and then either steamed vegetables or salad.

VH: Who do you train with when you are home in Girona?

EH: I train mostly alone, to be honest, but with the handful of other American guys if they’re here: Andrew Talansky, Brent Bookwalter, Ted King, those are a few guys that I’ve ridden with.

VH: Do you have many Astana teammates in Girona?

EH: Just one, Tanel Kangert, and I’ve trained with him before. But we have very different programs so he’s often not here when I am, so it’s difficult to get together.

VH: Going back in time a bit: you gave up college to pursue cycling. Obviously it worked out for you but that must have been a tough call at the time. What motivated you to make that decision? Are you glad you made it?

EH: Yeah, I’m still looking back happy, I think I made the right decision. It had as much to do with me being unhappy going to school as me wanting to pursue cycling, so it was kind of working both ways. And even if it hadn’t gone so well, I probably still wouldn’t regret it.

VH: You were putting in some big results in North America, but then you signed with Astana and even in your first year you were pretty busy. You rode Paris-Roubaix, you even went to China for the Tour of Beijing. How do you handle the transition from mostly North American races to suddenly riding all over the world, on one of the biggest teams in the sport?

EH: It’s really hard. It’s definitely a bit of a shock at first. The amount of traveling is definitely much greater and that makes it difficult to work around with the training and stuff. You’re always losing a day before and after a race. When I was riding a lot of local stuff in California and the West Coast I was just driving, so it was simpler.

VH: What’s the biggest thing that you have learned your first season?

EH: If I had to pick one thing, I guess just being flexible and trying not to get frustrated with things that are out of your control . . . because there are a lot of things that are.

Photo: Astana Pro Team

VH: Last year, you had a strong first season with a lot of racing. Early this year you had a big day at the Tour of Oman, getting into a small but strong breakaway on Stage 4. Ultimately the move was reeled in, but can you explain what it is like being off the front of the race, the atmosphere of riding in the break, and then the atmosphere when the gap starts to fall?

EH: It’s really hard to get into the break at first, sometimes more difficult than other times obviously, but it’s rarely easy. But then it’s not so bad for a while. Once you get out there and you have a couple minutes, the peloton kind of lets you go. It’s hard but you’re riding steady. You don’t have to do any real surges or fight for position. So for most of the day, it’s pretty relaxing in a lot of ways, but then once the gap starts to come down, and/or you get closer to the finish, or you start hitting some hills, then it gets much harder obviously. That’s one of the things that I’ve definitely learned more this year, just planning ahead. From the moment you get into the breakaway, thinking about how you’re going to win, not just thinking about trying to stay away as long as possible. It’s all about trying to conserve energy and going hard when you have to but not doing too much.

VH: Speaking of harder days, you raced Paris-Roubaix for the second time this year. Did it get any easier?

EH: Hm. A little bit. I think I was a little bit stronger but it’s such a hard race, very different from anything else. So much of it comes down to your experience and positioning more than just plain fitness. So I was a little bit stronger but I don’t know if I really did much better.

VH: How is your Italian? Astana is a pretty international squad: do you ever have trouble with communicating with other riders?

EH: All the time. I started to try to learn Italian pretty much immediately once I knew I was going to be on the team, with Rosetta Stone and TV shows and pretty much whatever I could pick up. I’ve learned a lot but I’m definitely not fluent. I kind of struggle to have real conversations with people, but I can understand enough that I can understand what I’m supposed to do during a race at the team meeting. I know all the cycling terminology good enough, but yeah it’s difficult. There’s at least one or two people at every race that can speak English that can translate for me if I need it but there’s still obviously a lot of people that don’t speak English so I just can’t really talk to them very easily, or vice versa, which is not ideal.

VH: Have there been any particular veteran riders on the team with whom you’ve formed a particular connection or from whom you’ve been able to learn some things?

EH: That’s one of the things that’s weird being on a team with so many riders, there are a lot of guys that you don’t see all year, except for training camp, because you just have different races, so the guys that I’ve ridden with a lot I’ve gotten in with closest . . . Jacopo Guarnieri, Dimitry Muravyev, Borut Božič, those guys, we did a lot of races in the spring and they speak good English. And they’re not afraid to tell me when I do something wrong, which is good for me.

VH: What area of your riding have you built on the most since joining Astana?

EH: I think I’ve gotten a little bit stronger overall. The biggest difference I think with racing at this level is the difference in intensity. Overall the races aren’t super fast sometimes, but when it is fast, it’s really, really fast. And so dealing with the change in pace when you’re already tired is what I’ve gotten better at, and still need to improve. Just that high intensity when you’re already fatigued later in the race.

VH: What’s next on your program for 2014?

EH: I have a bit of a break now. I think my next race will be some time in early August, either the Tour of Poland or the Eneco Tour. I’m not sure yet.

VH: What are your biggest goals for the rest of the year, either in a particular race or just generally?

EH: For the rest of the year I’m not really sure what my schedule will look like, so it’s hard to pick a race, but I want to really step up a level from where I’m at now and from where I was last year, just try to be even just a little bit better. It’s kind of hard to measure because it’s really subjective some times in races, but I kind of know what that is for me personally. So I just want to improve on where I was last year, keep getting better.

VH: Have you had a chance to ride or train much with Vincenzo Nibali to get a sense of his abilities and his form for the Tour?

EH: I’ve done a few races with him over the last couple of years. The last one was the Tour of Oman this year so that was obviously a while ago, so it doesn’t really give any insight into his form for the Tour other than what you’ve seen him do in more recent races like Romandie and the Dauphiné, but my overall impressions of him are that he’s a really nice guy and a good leader, and I think he’ll be ready for the Tour.

VH: Last question. Is there a race, maybe one you’ve ridden so far, maybe one you’ll be riding in the future, that you’d like to hone in on or hope to win?

EH: Hard to say. I’d really just want to do more races, to get experience and do everything. I want to do more long stage races, like Romandie or the Suisse, and then the next step would be a Grand Tour, and just see how it goes, and what my capability would be to focus on getting results down the road. I don’t know, I just kind of like to do everything. I’d really like to do a Grand Tour this year or next year if possible.

As the only American rider on Astana, a team based in Kazakhstan, and competing in events all over the world (not just in Europe and North America), Evan will continue to represent the USA on a very international stage. After a busy spring, Evan will likely return to racing in August.

-Dane Cash

June 16, 2014