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

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

April 12, 2015
Paris-Roubaix 2015 Preview

After weeks of exciting racing in Northern Europe, the grand finale of the Cobbled Classics has arrived. Paris-Roubaix gets underway Sunday morning in the small town of Compiegne, about an hour North of Paris by car, and after roughly six hours of racing, 2015 will crown its third Monument winner.

The Route

The route of Paris-Roubaix 2015 is much like the route of Paris-Roubaix 2014, with the same few sectors of especially vicious cobbles likely to force selection. Its name notwithstanding, Paris-Roubaix starts in the town of Compiègne, about an hour north of Paris. The first 98 km are, comparatively, quite easy, but then the peloton will hit the first of twenty-seven classified cobbled sections.

The Troisvilles sector that kicks things off is not among the hardest but after nearly 100 km of growing tension there will be a mad dash for position and things are likely to get a bit chippy. Other sectors of only moderate difficulty follow, until the first five-star sector, the Arenberg trench, reached at kilometer 158. 2.4 km of very challenging cobbles, plenty of riders see their Roubaix hopes meet an early demise on the rough terrain. The run-up to the Arenberg is typically where the action starts in earnest in Paris-Roubaix, and after that, it doesn’t stop, with several difficult sectors to follow before another particularly challenging sector, Mons-en-Pévèle. 204.5 km into the race, it is a very long stretch of cobblestones at 3 kilometers, and a place likely to see a few long-range attackers attempting to get clear.

After a few more cobbled sectors comes the final five-star challenge, the Carrefour de l’Arbre, 2.1 km of particularly nasty cobbles. As the pack, or what’s left of it, will hit this section with only 17 kilometers remaining in the race, it’s the perfect spot to launch an attack. Those who survive the Carrefour de l’Arbre will only face three more comparatively easy cobbled sections before the race finishes with 800 meters in the Roubaix velodrome.

“Anything can happen” is a mantra often used and reused to describe bike races, but nowhere else does it ring true quite like it does here. Positioning is critical, with the peloton stretching out and tightening up again constantly, and with attacks flying at all times. On this difficult terrain, mechanical problems are always a major concern, and in so many of the difficult sections along the road to Roubaix, help can be a long time coming if a rider needs a new wheel. Talking to VeloHuman at the team presentation, Heinrich Haussler noted: “The whole race, you get a flat tire in the wrong spot, you might as well just jump in the car.”

The Contenders

Few races reward pure strength the way Paris-Roubaix does, with its practically pancake-flat parcours and its bruising cobbled sectors that favor those riders with a bit of weight to keep them from bouncing around on the difficult road surface. Simply put, it’s a race that strongly favors the powerful cobbled specialists, especially those with good bike handling skills.

Etixx-QuickStep is bursting at the seams with Classics specialists, and yet they still have not come away with a top-level win on the cobbles this year. This is their last chance, but they will have a great opportunity to make things right here. Niki Terpstra is the defending champion, and the Dutch 30-year-old has shown strong form throughout the spring races in 2015. His 2nd in the Tour of Flanders proved his excellent fitness right now, and given his elite soloing talent, he makes for a great card to play for EQS here. Zdenek Stybar, though, might be the prime pick for the Belgian superteam. His combination of bike handling skills, endurance, and a nice finishing kick are perfect for this race, and he’s come close here in the past. The tooth problems that plagued him in Flanders have been fixed, and he’s shown great form this season. Stijn Vandenbergh is another very strong option for the team. QuickStep can send one rider after another off the front here and that puts them in prime position to finally come away with a win in the top Classics.

Alexander Kristoff comes in as the big name on everyone’s minds after his stunning Flanders win. Roubaix has not been a great race for him in the past but with the form he has shown lately and his incredible skillset, there’s no reason why this shouldn’t be another opportunity for him to win a big event. However, it won’t be easy for Katusha to corral what are likely to be constant attacks from Kristoff’s rivals (even with a very strong Luca Paolini on the team), and favorite status won’t help Kristoff either. Knowing how fast he will be in the velodrome, every other rival in this race will look to leave Kristoff behind at any opportunity, and that will make things pretty difficult for the Norwegian. He’s obviously a very dangerous rider, but pulling off a Flanders-Roubaix double would be an enormous feat.

John Degenkolb is the other “sprinter” near the top of the favorites discussion right now. Runner-up in 2014, he’s one of the few who might be able to beat Kristoff in a sprint, and he mentioned his and his team’s very high levels of confidence multiple times at the team presentation in Compiégne, saying that he has no fear if the race comes down to a sprint battle with Kristoff in the velodrome. He’s obviously strong this year after winning Milano-Sanremo, but his results in the other Cobbled Classics haven’t quite been as expected. Still, he’s already shown how well he can ride in this race, and even though he just won a Monument Classic last month, Kristoff’s recent success has taken all of the spotlight perhaps allowing him to enjoy a bit of under-the-radar status.

Bradley Wiggins rode to 9th here last year with practically no cobbled racing prep, and this year he’s got his sights set completely on a Roubaix win to close out his Team Sky career. In a race where time trialists often thrive, Wiggins has the requisite power for a big result. The question is whether he has the handling skills and the Classics savvy—many ridres spend years gaining experience here, gradually chipping away at results. Wiggins has been incredibly successful in his career when he has put his mind to even a very difficult goal, but this is asking a lot. He also doesn’t have much of a finishing kick, meaning that he’ll basically need to drop all of his rivals. He has a shot, but it won’t be easy. Geraint Thomas, on blazing form this Classics season, has done well here in the past and should do well again. Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe are nice alternatives for Sky.

Sep Vanmarcke was the runner-up in 2013, missing out on the victory because he couldn’t outsprint Fabian Cancellara in the velodrome. To me, he seems much quicker at the line these days, but he’s been lacking something in the Cobbled Classics this year. He can handle the cobbles more adeptly than almost anyone in the sport and that makes him deadly here but, simply put, he’ll need to better here than he was in Flanders.

Greg Van Avermaet has not had the success here that he’s had in other cobbled races but his speedy finishing kick and excellent team (with strong Daniel Oss as a second) makes him dangerous. Peter Sagan only notched his first Top 10 here last year, but his Classics prep this season has left him looking more powerful and perhaps better suited to this race than he was in the past. More under-the-radar than usual after weeks of missing out on big results, he could benefit from a rare lack of eyes pointed in his direction.

Lotto Soudal has a three-pronged attack with Jürgen Roelandts, Tiesj Benoot, and the surprising André Greipel. Similarly, IAM Cycling has the trio of Sylvain Chavanel, Heinrich Haussler, and the surprising Martin Elmiger—Haussler told VH that Elmiger said prior to Flanders that he is in the form of his life, and he proved it at the Ronde. That could come in handy in this race where having multiple strong teammates in crucial. Astana’s Lars Boom has looked strong this year and this race suits his cyclocross background and time trialing prowess. Cannondale’s Sebastian Langeveld, Lampre’s Filippo Pozzato, FDJ’s Arnaud Démare, Trek’s Stijn Devolder, and OGE’s Jens Keukeleire are on the list of outsiders with a shot in Paris-Roubaix.

VeloHuman Top 10 Favorites

Winner: Zdenek Stybar
Podium: Bradley Wiggins, Alexander Kristoff
Other Top Contenders: Niki Terpstra, Sep Vanmarcke, Peter Sagan, John Degenkolb, Geraint Thomas, Greg Van Avermaet, Stijn Vandenbergh

Be sure to follow @VeloHuman on Twitter for more analysis (from the roadside) of Paris-Roubaix 2015.

-Dane Cash

Photo by Brendan Ryan.

April 11, 2015
The Recon Ride Podcast: Paris-Roubaix 2015 Pre-race Show

Episode 8: Paris-Roubaix 2015 Pre-race Show
The Recon Ride gears up for Paris-Roubaix, the “Hell of the North,” taking a look at the history of the race, this year’s parcours, and the many riders who could make things interesting on Sunday.
[powerpress]

Dane Cash of VeloHuman and Cosmo Catalano of Cyclocosm cover the many storylines of Paris-Roubaix in the latest episode of the Recon Ride, which also features interview audio from Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, and Tyler Farrar.

Photo by Christian Bille.

April 10, 2015
The Hell of the North, a First-timer, Wild Card Perspective: Scott Thwaites Paris-Roubaix Q&A

The conversations among journalists and fans at Saturday’s Paris-Roubaix team presentation mostly focused on the Classics brilliance of Alexander Kristoff, the uncertainty about the chances of Bradley Wiggins in the race, and the odds of another Etixx misstep, but beyond these select few conversation-starting top favorites, there are twenty-five teams and two hundred riders in total taking on Paris-Roubaix. From the cockpit of his Argon 18, Scott Thwaites will “enjoy” the same bone-rattling cobblestones as everyone else in the Queen of the Classics, but he will view this race from the perspective of a wild card invite and first-time Roubaix rider. VH caught up with Scott ahead of the race to get a sense of what this Monument Classic looks like from his vantage point.

VH: You’ve just ridden the always challenging Tour of Flanders, and now it’s onto another grueling day on the cobbles. How are you feeling right about now?

ST: It’s obviously another big day out, it’s pretty tough, and in Roubaix the cobbles are worse. It’s going to be a hard day so we’ll need to all work together and try to do the best we can.

VH: Bora-Argon 18 (or it’s previous incarnations as NetApp) has received wild card invites to Roubaix for several years now. When that is your avenue for getting into a race, is there any pressure to honor the invite and let people know that you deserve the spot.

ST: Yeah I guess you’ve got to sort of do that and thank the organizers for inviting you as well. The sponsors, they put the money in and they want to be shown on the biggest stage. These races are what it’s all about really, the Tour, Roubaix, Flanders, the other Monuments, so you’ve really got to do the best you can as a team and get yourself out there. It’s not all about getting the Top 10. It’s also just getting the coverage. Being in the main breakaway is a big goal for a lot of the small teams, the teams that maybe don’t have someone that can get there at the finish. At Flanders we had a guy in the small front break for most of the race, which was great for the team.

VH: That being said, what’s the team planning to do in pursuit of those goals?

ST: Well like I said, It’s about getting someone in the break, that’s the main thing because then we get a bit more publicity for the sponsors and for future invites. If we animate the race, if you use that word, then that helps for future years, so that’s probably the main goal for the team, and then I guess just trying to get the best rider as far as possible in the lead group and just see how they do from there. If he can get a decent result than that’s a bonus.

VH: Is there a particular result the team would consider a success here?

ST: I don’t really know for this race. . . . Can’t really put a number on a position or anything.

VH: What about you personally, as a first-time Roubaix rider—what are you hoping to come away with on Sunday?

ST: I’d like to see the finish, that’s obviously a good start, it’s always good for your development, if you can get to the finish in the biggest races, you get the miles in your legs, you get experience learning the course a bit better and all of that helps in future years. For me, to see the finish is the goal, but I can’t let that take over for the job I have to do on the day, because if it comes to it and I have to ride on the front and do a role in the middle of the race for whoever the best guy on the team is, then that will come first and then finishing will come after that.

VH: Jan Barta, one of your main riders for these races, is out with an illness. A number of teams are experiencing something similar, losing leaders and scrambling to come up with options. What’s that do for a squad psychologically?

ST: I guess it gives more teams a bit more confidence that their top guy can win the race, so maybe they sort of take on the race in a different approach. . . . More people feel like the race is open so it’s there for the taking, and I guess you might see different teams trying to control the races whereas before it might have been Etixx and Trek that had the two main guys in the race. I think we saw that in Flanders where Sky tried to control the race because Geraint [Thomas] was a strong favorite. I’m guessing that will happen also in Roubaix, probably with Sky again with Wiggins, they’ll look to try to take the race and control it.

ST: Are the Cobbled Classics a goal for you personally in your career?

VH: Definitely, the Classics is what I want to do in the future and what I want to be good it, but I think especially in the Classics, it takes a few years to get to that level. You obviously get the odd person that comes every few years that just sort of is able to do well from a young age, but generally it takes guys into the late twenties to learn the roads, build up the strength, and get everything as a package that you need to be a top Classics rider. Because I’m British, I follow the British guys like Stannard and Thomas, and you’ve seen them in the past few years really start to come to the front in these races. They’ve been working on that for the last three or four years at least, if not longer, to try to get into that position. Obviously for me, this is my second Classics season really, second Flanders, second Gent-Wevelgem and it will be my first Roubaix, so I’ve still got plenty of years to sort of learn the routes and the racing style and everything. But if every year I can progress deeper into the races, hold the front group for longer and longer, then there will come a point where I’ll be in the race when it rally matters and that’s the goal.

VH: And is team leadership in these races a part of that goal?

ST: Yeah definitely. I’m not far off at the moment. Probably I could do with a Grand Tour to build up some strength, I think that’s next in my development if I could get a Grand Tour in my legs that would also help for the future. Each year I’m learning the roads more and I’m learning where the decisive parts in the race are, not only the winning splits but all the splits before that where you can get caught out, so I’m learning the right position to be in on certain climbs and things like that. So that’s all looking good for the future and that’s all knowledge that I’ve got now that I can put into action next year and in the future.

VH: Are you picking up any knowledge from veterans of these races?

ST: I work with Jeremy Hunt, he’s my trainer and he was obviously very experienced in the Classics, and he was a guy that was up there in the key parts of the races and he was able to get into the front groups. And I think it’s somebody like that that you really need to learn off, because you could have done the race five times but if you’ve never made the front split, then you can’t really tell anyone how to make the front split. So it’s learning off of someone who’s been there, been in the thick of the action, and I think Jeremy has been a really big help for me in all of the races, not only in the big ones like Flanders but in the smaller ones like Nokere [Koerse], things like positioning for the sprint, he’s given me a lot of advice for that and it’s certainly helped.

-Dane Cash

April 10, 2015
Despite E3 Crash, Sebastian Langeveld Confident in Fitness Ahead of Paris-Roubaix: “I’m Recovered Enough”

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

April 8, 2015
Scheldeprijs 2015: Race Day Thoughts from Tom Van Asbroeck, Daniel McLay, and Tanner Putt

VeloHuman caught up with a few riders at the start of Scheldeprijs in Antwerp. It’s a race that almost always ends in a bunch sprint with most of the pre-race favorites in contention for a high-speed win, but there was general consensus among the three participants interviewed that a Cav- and Kittel-less startlist might make things a bit more interesting this year. . . .

Daniel McLay (Bretagne-Séché Environnement)

The team has a few different quick men here. What’s the plan today?

I think it’s 99% sure this race is going to be a sprint, though obviously, other stuff can happen. I think we’ll see the race, how everyone’s feeling. Normally Romain [Feillu] will do his own thing in the final because that’s how he likes to ride the final, and then between me and [Yauheni] Hutarovich, we’ll decide and help each other and do something in the finish.

It’s Bretagne-Séché Environnement’s first big Classics race since Het Nieuwsblad and KBK. Do you think there might be a bit of system shock riding with alongside guys who have been in Classics mode for a few weeks now from E3 through Flanders?

I don’t think in this race. Shouldn’t be a big issue really, everyone’s had good prep, either Paris-Nice or Catalunya or another stage race, so the level is sort of . . . obviously there’s more big guys but I think the biggest tell will be Sunday in Roubaix. Today will be . . . well I’d say straightforward but it’s never straightforward . . . it’s a 99% chance of sprint but obviously it’s a complicated finish and you have to be good to do something.

Is this a good prep for Roubaix then?

For me. I took a little of rest after the last races because I’d felt like I’d done a lot of race days. So I think it will be a good 200 k today. Maybe not for the guys who have been doing endless amounts of one-days, maybe they don’t need 200 k today, but I think it will be good for me.

Tom Van Asbroeck (LottoNL-Jumbo)

Several big names here, what’s the play with these options for LottoNL?

We’ve got two good guys, me and Barry, so we’ve got our chances today, and we’ll hope for a good result, because we need it!

Is it a nice change of pace racing Scheldeprijs, a bit less challenging than, say Flanders?

Yeah, it’s a nice change, of course. We had shit weather the last few weeks, with Gent-Wevelgem, which was the top of the shit weather. So it’s a nice change to have some sunny days and some flat terrain.

Rivals you have your eyes on for today?

I think MTN has a good chance with Theo Bos and Tyler Farrar, so maybe they have one of the best teams today for a sprint eventually. Some other good guys, Danny van Poppel also from Trek, also big chance, 3rd last year. Team Sky, Viviani also. They have some other guys in the group like Wiggins and Thomas so I don’t know.

Any chance someone gets away and stays away in this race?

I think if there is a chance for a group to stay away, it will be today. Big names aren’t here today, the best chance would be today for no sprint . . . but I don’t know, it’s going to be hard to not have a sprint.

Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare)

Any chance this doesn’t end in a sprint?

I’d say there’s about a ten percent chance. . . . No Cavendish, No Kittel . . .

What’s the UHC strategy here?

We’ll try to get into the breakaway and then we’ve got two guys here for the sprint, one of whom [Robert Forster] was 3rd here in 2010.

And your role for today?

Well I’ll try to get up into the breakaway, and then maybe help out in the sprint.

-Dane Cash

April 8, 2015