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Tag: Sebastian Langeveld

  • Paris-Roubaix 2015: Race Day Thoughts from Hayden Roulston, Sebastian Langeveld, and Daniel Oss

    Paris-Roubaix 2015: Race Day Thoughts from Hayden Roulston, Sebastian Langeveld, and Daniel Oss

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    VeloHuman spoke with a few of the riders at the Paris-Roubaix startline in Compiègne to get the inside scoop on how the Queen of the Classics might play out.

    Hayden Roulston (Trek Factory Racing)

    How are the legs?

    I’m okay. This is the last race for a lot of people here today so it’s always a full-gas race and it’s always a stressful race but it’s one of the most beautiful races of the year.

    Is the team feeling strong coming in?

    Yeah obviously we lost Fabian and it’s a big, big loss, you can’t replace him, but you know we’ve got Devolder, Stuyven, we’ve still got some good young riders and you know, we’re here to fight and like every other team here, we’re here with a shot.

    Are there any specific sections of cobbles you’ve got your eyes on?

    The first section is always a very nervous section. It’s not the hardest section but it’s always a very nervous section. And then you’ve got the section before Arenberg, that’s a very important section, and obviously Arenberg, and then you know later on you’ve got Pévèle and you’ve also got Carrefour de l’Arbre and they’re obviously crunch sections but the race is sort of . . . well before then, normally.

    Top rivals you’re watching?

    We don’t have our eyes on anyone. Kristoff is definitely on a hot streak but this is the most open race on the calendar in my opinion, especially missing Boonen and Fabian, there’s a lot of guys that could win today.

    Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale-Garmin)

    Are you feeling recovered and ready to go?

    I’m feeling good. We didn’t do much from Thursday on, just rested and kept the tank full so yeah, ready to go.

    What did you learn as a team at Flanders that you might be able to use here?

    Mentally, I was a bit different in Flanders than I am now. I was coming back from an injury and now the body feels ready to go again, so I want to go for a result today.

    Is there any particular place that you have circled along the route as maybe a good place to go for it?

    No, I think it’s hard to pick a spot. I think the last 70 kilometers, it can happen everywhere. . . . And also, like last week it’s going to be an open race, there are a couple of big top favorites but behind them there’s a group of riders who can go alone or in a group to the velodrome. I think it’s going to be a really fast race, where you need to keep your eyes open and not be afraid to go in moves.

    Daniel Oss (BMC Racing Team)

    Will there be relief getting to the velodrome after all these cobbled races?

    Yeah, the race is difficult—but in the final we’ll be there. We have the legs. We have the team, we have a lot of motivation, we really want to arrive in front to play with a win.

    You’ve been very aggressive in the Cobbled Classics so far as a team. Sometimes this race is about aggression, other times it’s just about attrition. Do you plan to try to keep launching attacks here or will you maybe try to stay patient?

    That’s a big point, because until Flanders, we were really aggressive but in Flanders we waited a little bit and we took the podium. So maybe in this kind of race, it is really important to conserve the energy for the final and go the best in the final sector, in the final kilometers. But the team has to be there in the heavy attack, in the heavy moments, anything can happen.

    You’ve been riding very well these past few races. How do you feel about your form?

    Yeah. I’m really good I think! I’m in the best shape of my career until now, and I’m looking forward to staying in this condition in the next few years.

    -Dane Cash

  • Despite E3 Crash, Sebastian Langeveld Confident in Fitness Ahead of Paris-Roubaix: “I’m Recovered Enough”

    Despite E3 Crash, Sebastian Langeveld Confident in Fitness Ahead of Paris-Roubaix: “I’m Recovered Enough”

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    After he left E3 Harelbeke in an ambulance, it seemed that Sebastian Langeveld’s Classics campaign might be over for 2015. The Dutch national road race champion suffered elbow, shoulder, and knee contusions in a bad crash about 40 kilometers into the race, an event that also saw Fabian Cancellara badly injured and forced to cut his own Classics program short as well.

    But Langeveld, Cannondale-Garmin’s team leader for the cobbled races, was determined to make an effort at getting back onto the bike before the big one-day events came to a close; for a Classics specialist, this is the most important time of the season, and the 30-year-old couldn’t not give a shot. After skipping Gent-Wevelgem, he headed out on a training ride last Wednesday, and then he joined the team’s recon ride of Flanders on Thursday, where he was able to get a sense of his readiness to start racing again—and the scouting trip apparently gave him enough confidence to take on De Ronde.

    Only a little a week after his E3 hospital visit, Langeveld managed to stay roughly with the peloton at the Tour of Flanders, finishing at the back of the main group a few minutes behind winner Alexander Kristoff.

    The 264-kilometer Tour of Flanders is not an easy race for a recovering rider, but Langeveld told VeloHuman that just being at the race got him back into competitive mode, so much so that he was even a bit disappointed at not contending for the win despite only just returning from injury.

    “You want to give your absolute best for the team, you start the season in January as the leader for the Classics, and then the last ten days I was twice on the ground in my races, so mentally, that’s not easy,” Langeveld said. “Physically, it’s also not easy. Two days ago I didn’t know that I was going to start in Flanders, so I’m really happy that I finished the race, that I made the kilometers, etc. But on the other hand, you’re not going to ride Flanders as a training . . . so a little bit of disappointment, but maybe in a few hours I’m happy and I can see it a little bit more in another perspective and try to see the positive thing about it.”

    The long day on the bike gave Langeveld an opportunity to get a sense of where he is fitness-wise after taking a few days off following the crash. His assessment? Things are quickly returning to normal.

    “I was pretty good until the second time on Kwaremont, which is a little bit normal. My last real race was Sanremo, and I was five days off the bike, so that’s not ideal towards a Monument,” he said.

    Paris-Roubaix is just around the corner. Langeveld was 8th in the race last year, and started this year hoping for more on the cobbles in France. In pursuit of a result in 2015, it would obviously be important for Cannondale-Garmin’s team leader to be at full strength, but his day at De Ronde gave Langeveld confidence that he’s already back in shape to contend at Paris-Roubaix.

    “I think for sure I’m recovered enough,” he said. “Wednesday was my first training and today, it’s a really good thing that I have the kilometers in the legs, and then Wednesday I have another race, Scheldeprijs, and then we’ll do the recon. And now I have a full week, I can also prepare mentally. Two days ago, it was all 50/50 if I was going to make the start or not. But if you’re on the start line in Flanders . . . these are the races where you train for it all winter. We will see next week. For sure it’s a race where I would like to do a result, but we’ll have to see how the recovery goes. As far as I can see, the body, I had no problems with my injury. So that’s a good thing.”

    Langeveld noted after the Tour of Flanders that Cannondale-Garmin is keeping things pretty stress-free; if anyone is putting pressure on Langeveld to be at his best for Roubaix, it’s Langeveld himself: “The team is as good as the leader, and they also know that I was on the ground twice and so they didn’t put any pressure on me, they just said try to do the race as good as possible. . . . The first plan was just to start here and do 200 km. Just at the finish I was a little bit disappointed but now I’m already trying to see the bigger thing for next week,” he said.

    -Dane Cash