Tag: 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
Ronde van Vlaanderen 2015: Race Day Thoughts from John Degenkolb, Hugo Houle, and Tyler Farrar

VeloHuman chatted with some of the riders taking on the Tour of Flanders at the startline in Bruges to get some insider insight on the way the 2015 Ronde might play out.

John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin)

We finally have good weather today. Does that work in your favor?

I think it’s in my advantage and I like it when we don’t have super bad conditions. It’s good, I like it.

How does absence of Fabian Cancellara affect the way Giant-Alpecin will ride this race?

Fabian was always like an orientation point in the race, so it will not make it easier, for sure. For everybody, now we have to make our own race, and I’m actually pretty sad that he’s not here, and I hope he’s getting fine again.

Do you think you can beat Kristoff again if this comes down to a sprint?

I think so. That would be the perfect situation but we will see. It’s a hard race, it’s a long race, and it definitely won’t be a sprint like in Sanremo.

Hugo Houle (AG2R La Mondiale)

How do you see the race playing out scenario-wise?

Well for sure it’s going to be a small group, maybe one, two, four, a group of ten guys maximum at the end. I think it’s more open because Cancellara and Boonen are not there. So it’s going to be an interesting race, and it’s going to be funny to see who is going to take control, and maybe a group can go a long way from the finish and stay ahead because you don’t have one team controlling.

How’s the AG2R Morale heading into this race?

It’s pretty good team morale. I think we’re all motivated and will try to do our best. We’re not the big contender but that makes us stress-free and we’ll try to get a result that will be good for us.

Tyler Farrar (MTN-Qhubeka)

How is the team holding up with Edvald Boasson Hagen sidelined by a collarbone injury?

You never want to see one of your teammates get hurt so that’s never good. He was really our leader for the Ronde and for Paris-Roubaix next weekend. It’s definitely a blow to the team’s strategy but that’s sport and we just have to deal with it and come up with a Plan B.

What is Plan B?

Today I think Gerald [Ciolek] is going really well. The last few races he’s really been climbing strong. We hope he’ll make the final selections and be in a small group that sprints for a podium or even the victory.

What’s your role today?

We’ll see. I don’t think I’m going bad either so I’ll try to stay pretty quiet early on and hide a bit, and try to be the backup guy today. And if we don’t need a backup guy, I’ll see if I can lend him a hand in the final hour of the race.

We finally have decent weather! Thoughts?

Finally! It makes me a lot happier. It’s been a pretty rough Classics weather-wise and that really changes the dynamics of the race. When you get those horrible days like we had last week, it becomes more of an attrition thing. When you have this good weather, people tend to race a bit more aggressively in the finale, so the race tends to be a bit more explosive I think.

-Dane Cash

April 5, 2015
Ronde van Vlaanderen 2015 Preview

With E3 and Gent-Wevelgem in the books, the Tour of Flanders is almost here. Sans Fabian Cancellara (and Tom Boonen, though he would not have enjoyed the same level of favorite status as Cancellara even if he were here) the 2015 Ronde looks especially open, which should make for quite a race.

The Route

At 264 kilometers, the Tour of Flanders is a long one, and the arduous journey gets more and more difficult as the day wears on. The peloton will set out from scenic Bruges and head south towards the cobbled climbs that this race has made so famous. The route contains seventeen officially classified climbs this year, many of them repeat trips up the same ascents, as the course starts looping into itself and covering the same ground again for multiple visits to these famous hellingen.

The final string of climbs that runs from roughly kilometer 219 to kilometer 251 are the likely battleground where this race will play out. Over the top of brutal challenges like the Koppenberg, after already having been up and over so many of these cobbles all day, the peloton is likely to break apart. And if things aren’t already shattered to pieces by the time the peloton hits the final climbs of the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg, the attacks are certain to fly on the long drag of the former and the vicious steepness of the latter.

After the descent from the Paterberg, it’s a mostly straight run to the line, meaning that anyone hoping to whittle down the lead group is going to look to act before the final few kilometers.

The Contenders

It’s a wide open field for the Tour of Flanders this season, with four or five riders enjoying roughly equivalent favorite status and a host of others nipping at their heels. LottoNL’s Sep Vanmarcke is certainly among the top contenders. The Belgian cobbled specialist was 3rd here in 2014 and despite never quite coming away with that big win he’s been searching for in his career, he’s displayed the grit, the bike handling, the climbing chops, and the explosive required to make a bid for glory here. The results in the run-up races of E3 and Gent-Wevelgem haven’t quite been where he would have hoped, with others appearing stronger out on the road in both events, but this is the real prize for Vanmarcke and he seems like an excellent rider to watch as the final Kwaremont-Paterberg double approaches.

Similarly versatile is Zdenek Stybar of Etixx-QuickStep, who happens to also have a true powerhouse of talent supporting him team-wise. Stybar looks to be the best of the EQS riders for this race because, among the Classics stars on this QuickStep roster, he best combines climbing legs and a powerful finishing kick. But Niki Terpstra and especially Stijn Vandenbergh, 4th here last year and extremely savvy racing these roads, give the team options. Expect to see attacks flying from all sides late in this race.

Team Sky also brings firepower with their many talented stars on the roster, with Geraint Thomas leading the way. Among the strongest climbers in this Ronde, Thomas is on terrific form right now as evidenced by his win at E3 and his follow-up 3rd place at Gent-Wevelgem. Being able to rely on Ian Stannard and Bradley Wiggins will help. With a pair of Top 10s here already on his resume and a recent win in a race that incorporated many of the same climbs, Thomas has the experience necessary to take on this race as a top favorite and it would be a big surprise not to see him try something on one of the final climbs. The question is whether he’ll be able to shed his top rivals who might give him a run for his money in a small sprint.

One rider certain to be hoping that this race ends with a small group sprinting for the win is Tinkoff-Saxo’s Peter Sagan. Flying more under the radar right now than maybe he was expecting to be due to a general lack of results this year, Sagan might have a bit of an advantage that he doesn’t usually enjoy; so often, his plans are foiled immediately because all of his rivals are eying him at all times. This year, with the focus on other riders, Sagan may have a chance to make something happen the way he wants to. The form hasn’t been too bad, and this is a major objective, so he can’t be ignored even though he hasn’t been lighting it up coming into the Ronde this year.

After a crash at E3, where his skillset would have made him one of the likely top contenders at the business end of the race, Greg Van Avermaet might be flying under the radar a bit as well. But he seems to have recovered from his fall and he has been in excellent shape so far this year. 2nd here last year and a more capable sprinter than most, he may be able to look for the right wheels to follow this year rather than launching one of his trademark “almost-good-enough” attacks. Daniel Oss makes for a terrific teammate.

Speaking of terrific teammates, Alexander Kristoff will be in good hands with Luca Paolini at his side as well. In Katusha’s pre-race press conference, Paolini was very clear in his support of Kristoff, and that solidarity will be a great boon for the Norwegian. It won’t be easy to keep this together for a sprint (which is what Kristoff will need to win here) but Kristoff is tougher than most and with Paolini to help close down attacks if necessary, he has a fighting chance. So too does John Degenkolb, who may not have much of a history in this race but who has shown that he can climb well (winning plenty of hilly, intermediate-stage type races in the past) and ride cobbles well (winning Gent-Wevelgem in 2014 and taking 2nd in Paris-Roubaix that year) which are the necessary requirements to hanging on here. Given the difficult nature of this race and the wide open field likely to see constant attacks, I think the sprinters will have a very hard time here, but Kristoff and Degenkolb are the two obvious riders to watch in that potential scenario.

Jürgen Roelandts, who proved his great form with a bold solo move in Gent-Wevelgem, also packs a quick finish and that makes him dangerous here, with the surprising Jens Debusschere as an alternative. Stijn Devolder will head up Trek’s Flanders campaign in the absence of Fabian Cancellara. Cannondale-Garmin’s Sebastian Langeveld was a late addition to the startlist, recovering from a recent crash; he’s a great talent in unknown shape right now. Astana’s Lars Boom, OGE’s Jens Keukeleire, MTN-Qhubeka’s Gerald Ciolek, and a stable of young Topsport Vlaanderen talents that includes Jelle Wallays and Edward Theuns are among the outsiders who will hope to contend.

VeloHuman Top 10 Favorites

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

Be sure to follow @VeloHuman on Twitter for more roadside analysis during the race. Also, don’t miss the Recon Ride podcast, with pre-race insight from Sep Vanmarcke, Geraint Thomas, and Patrick Lefevere.

-Dane Cash

Photo by Mick Knapton.

April 4, 2015
The Recon Ride Podcast: Ronde van Vlaanderen 2015 Pre-race Show

Episode 7: Ronde van Vlaanderen 2015 Pre-race Show
The Recon Ride takes on Belgium’s biggest race, the Tour of Flanders, with plenty of insider insight from a few people likely to play a major role in the event.
[powerpress]

VeloHuman and Cyclocosm join forces again to present the Recon Ride Ronde van Vlaanderen Pre-race Show, with more insider knowledge than ever, thanks to interviews with race favorites Sep Vanmarcke and Geraint Thomas and EQS CEO Patrick Lefevere.

Photo by Ctankcycles.

April 3, 2015