Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, October 28, 2023
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
People are very open-minded about new things - as long as they're exactly like the old ones. - Charles Kettering
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Current Racing:
- Oct 28: Superprestige Ruddervoorde
Upcoming racing:
Latest completed racing:
- Oct 22: Superprestige Overijse-Vlaanse Druivencross
- Oct 12 - 17: Tour of Guangxi
- Oct 15: Japan Cup
- Oct 15: Chrono des Nations
- Oct 15: Veneto Classic
- Oct 11: Giro del Veneto
- Oct 8: Paris-Tours
- Oct 7: Il Lombardia
- Oct 5: Paris-Gien-Bourges
Here’s the team’s announcement:
German sprinter and lead-out man Rüdiger Selig (34) signed a one-year agreement with Astana Qazaqstan Team for the upcoming season of 2024.
Rüdiger Selig racing in stage four of the 2015 Eneco Tour. Sirotti photo
“For me, the contract with Astana Qazaqstan Team is a great opportunity to show what I can do in the sprint. I believe that together with the best lead-out riders in the world, Michael Mørkøv and Cees Bol, we can become an excellent team for the cycling legend Mark Cavendish to achieve great victories together with him and, who knows, maybe even create history. I think we can have a great mix of strength and experience. Also I’d like to help another new sprinter of the team Max Kanter to prove his potential as a sprinter. When I first heard about the new concept of the team and about the new riders who come to Astana Qazaqstan Team, it immediately interested me. I have a huge motivation to become a part of this big and ambitious project as soon as possible, and I am looking forward to the start of the new season”, – said Rüdiger Selig.
Though Selig is a well-known lead-out rider who helps the sprinters on their way to success, the German rider has a set of personal results. Thus, among his best achievements could be named Volta Limburg Classic in 2013, a prologue of the Tour of Austria in 2015, a second place in the Classica de Almeria in 2017, a stage of the Tour of Slovakia in 2018. Besides, for several times he reached the stage podium at the Giro d’Italia and La Vuelta a España.
“For us Rüdiger Selig is a strengthening of the sprint train, not only for Mark Cavendish, but also for another sprinter Max Kanter. Selig is an experienced and fast lead-out man, who has worked with some famous sprinters and classic specialists over the years. I think that with this signing our sprint group is getting into a full shape, with which we can start working towards the new season”, – said Alexandr Vinokurov, General Manager of Astana Qazaqstan Team.
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The team posted this:
A member of Soudal Quick-Step since 2012, the Belgian has just completed his 12th year with the squad.
“My function in the team is that I am a physio and a manual therapist. From the moment we arrive at the hotel after the race my work really begins. There can be some work before the race, like helping riders to apply kinesis tape, and similar. And during the day, when the race is on, I will go to the feed zone or a bottle point, in the same way as a soigneur, to help with the work that they do. Then once we are back at the hotel and the riders have their massage, we will also see them for treatment for problems with the lower back, neck and shoulders.
"The role has many facets, and it means that I have to work closely with the soigneurs, the medical team and the team management. The moment that a rider comes to us to report some kind of pain or injury, the first thing we do is consult the doctor for a diagnosis, and then we make a plan for how we are going to resolve the problem and which treatment will be best. So, we work very closely with them.
Steven Vrancken. Photo: Wout Beel
"I got involved with cycling as a sport over 20 years ago. After I finished my studies, I was working with a physio who worked for a development team in Belgium. One weekend they needed some help, and my colleague asked me if I would be interested in going along, and I was really keen to try working with them. So, I went with them to a race, which I really enjoyed, and two decades later I am still here.
"I am lucky that I can combine my work with the team with my clinic at home and the combination is a nice mix for me. When I am away with the team and I get a change of scenery and a chance to meet people from other countries and cultures, it means a lot to me. We work hard at the races, but it is different to what I do at home in Belgium, and it is a nice mix.
"Over my period of time with Soudal Quick-Step, the way that we work with the riders has changed a lot. For example, in the wintertime, the riders will work on their core stability and their neck muscles to help them on the bike. Ten years ago, we really had to convince riders that they needed to do their exercise and they were not always sure it was best for them. But now the attitude has changed a lot and most of the time they come to me to ask for advice. Also now, the riders were always looking for a manual therapist to crack their back to make it feel like they were really being worked. Now they know more about stretching and soft tissue techniques, and they are much more knowledgeable.
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Here’s the team’s post:
The Groupama-FDJ’s strategy regarding young riders’ development continues to evolve. After the launch of the “Conti” team in 2019, the juniors program was introduced in 2021, and a new feature will further boost it next season for the project’s fourth birthday. A supervisor of the matter alongside Benoît Vaugrenard, Joseph Berlin-Sémon tells us all about it, while taking stock of the program so far.
Joseph, the third year of the Juniors program has just ended. How did it go?
It went pretty well. We were following four riders this year and we had quite a young group with three first year Juniors: Eliott Boulet, Aurélien Kayser and Mattéo Moncoutié. Alongside them, there was also Titouan Fontaine, who was already followed last year. For three of them, it was therefore about discovering a new level while Titouan had greater ambitions with the French team, on the international scene, in addition to the motivation of joining the Conti team. They all won races, which is important for youngsters as it’s always reassuring to be able to raise your arms. We obtained very good results, notably with Eliott who won the time trial national title. We set up this project three years ago. The goal is to take it a step further each year, and to upgrade it by implementing small things. We’ll do so next year as well.
What is your assessment after the first three years of the program?
We achieved the objectives we set for ourselves. Let’s remember that the project aims to spot riders as juniors or u17, then to train them and support them up to the high level. First towards the Conti team, then eventually in the WorldTour. The results are one thing, but what interests us is the riders’ progress and their medium and long-term project. Some are a little worried about the future of the riders given that they come quite young, but they should know that we definitely have in mind this medium- and long-term vision for the rider. As we speak, we can be particularly proud to note that two riders have reached WorldTour level in three years: Lenny Martinez and Eddy Le Huitouze.
Lenny Martinez in the red GC leader's jersey after stage 6 of the 2023 Vuelta a España. Sirotti photo
We also have three riders in the Conti with Jens, Colin and Titouan. Besides that, we have three other riders in the WorldTour in other teams. We are therefore satisfied with the development work we provide, because it is the very centre of this project. I don’t know if we can already say it’s successful, because the careers of all these youngsters are only just beginning, but we’re certainly satisfied, and given that the philosophy of the team has always been developing young riders, we will continue on this path. Especially since this philosophy has proven itself for twenty years.
Can you tell us again what the Juniors program is made of?
The aim of the program is to provide monitoring and support to young riders, who are scouted both nationally and internationally. However, it is not about quantity. The goal is to offer concrete and effective help to a smaller group of youngsters. We take action on several facets. First there is the sporting one. We provide a coach, various camps in Besançon, in Spain and in Mayenne, with collective or specific training to prepare for the season’s objectives. To optimize performance, we also work on the position and do tests in Besançon. We offer material support, with a road bike and a time trial bike, and all the equipment they need to train and perform well in competition. We also provide human support, from the coach who is in touch with the club, the family and the rider himself. The latter also has access to the team platform, which is now identical from the Juniors to the WorldTour. Finally, the last aspect we come into action is educational support. We offer the same training as the Conti team’s riders benefit, and we try to raise awareness on important topics such as communication, nutrition, performance and even mechanics. In addition to all this, the team provides an annual grant of 1000 euros for the athlete so that he can finance his academic support. This is important to us. The ultimate goal is to include the rider in the core functioning of the team.
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Is “recruiting” now also difficult in this age category?
We clearly note this trend. I’ve been with the team for six years, and I do a lot of scouting for the Conti and also a bit for the Juniors program. I can say that it has changed enormously in recent years, with the creation of many development teams, but also with junior structures becoming more and more professional, often thanks to the support of professional teams. Professionalization is good, but it is actually becoming more difficult to recruit. Also, many teams that do not have youth support or a continental team are doing their best to recruit the world’s best Juniors. The World’s top-10 is offered to move directly to the WorldTour, while it might be necessary to complete another year of development at continental level. However, this trend is sliding more and more to the youngest categories. There is now a “battle” to recruit the best U17, even if we do not wish to be part of this process. We offer a project to the young rider. He likes it, so much the better, otherwise he will go somewhere else. There is indeed tough competition between the teams because everyone wants the best riders, younger and younger. We had the best development team in 2022, but that doesn’t mean it was easy to recruit last year because young riders were asked at the WorldTour level. It’s up to us to offer a project that tempts the youngsters, to show them our strengths.
Is it still possible to find that rare gem these days?
All teams usually follow the same riders, those who we see in the results and who often appear in the top-10. However, I personally also believe in this talent that will take a little longer to develop, that will pass under the radar, but which we will manage to scout. This is also what I like about this mission: finding this particular rider, who is not necessarily the world number 1 today, but who could become with work and thanks to what we would set up with him. Today, the cycling model aims to recruit the best and the youngest, but for me, as long as there are development teams, we must also keep room for these riders who mature later and that we can train for 2-3 years. I think there will be some.
Can you introduce the 2024 riders to us?
We will have seven riders. We are keeping the riders who were with us last year, apart from Titouan who is moving into the Conti. Eliott, Aurélien and Matteo will therefore be second-year Juniors. Four new riders will come along. There is Baptiste Grégoire, who will be a second-year junior and who is Romain’s brother. The goal is obviously that he follows the same path as his brother (smiles), even if he does not have the same profile at all. He is more of a climber. We will have another second-year junior, Axel Vuillier, who’s also from the region and rides for the CC Étupes. He has a climbing profile. We will finally have two first-year junior riders: Johan Blanc, who comes from mountain biking and cyclo-cross. He was runner-up in the French mountain bike championship in 2023 and winner of the U17 French cyclocross cup last year. He’s more of a puncher/climber, and quite versatile due to his different activities. Finally, there is Karl Sagnier, fourth in the Trophée Madiot this year, in which he won a round, and a French track champion. He is a rider who goes fast in the sprint.
At the start of the interview, you mentioned something new for 2024…
Indeed. For some time we had the idea of offering, in addition to the training camps, a coherent and complete racing program for the rider, based on their other obligations with their club, the regional team or the national team. The riders are already quite busy, but we wanted to add a few national or international races, in which they would therefore participate under the team’s colours next year. The goal is not to plan fifteen days of racing under the team jersey, but to limit ourselves to 5-6 races, which would be spread from April to September. Six races don’t seem like much, but there isn’t much room in the calendar to fit in additional races. The aim is above all to offer races which fit into their training and learning. This means going to races with various profiles: cobbled Classics, stage races, with time trials, possibly team time trials, mountains… It is important that the riders discover a little bit of everything, even if it is not their terrain, in order to be more comfortable later as U23s in particular. Next year, there will also be several races where the WorldTeam, the U23s and also Juniors will be brought together. We could therefore have the three levels represented at the same event, like in Plouay or Roubaix. It will also be a good experience for the youngsters to be around the team.
Is this step-up a source of pride?
It shows anyway that the program has been evolving over the past three years. As a team, we’re satisfied to be represented in races at three levels. That being said, I would like to emphasize that we do not want to be overrepresented with a jersey among the juniors category. We remain a support for the club and the rider, and that is very important for us. We are very happy that he can wear the team jersey during some races and training camps, but we do not want to overshadow the structures that train youngsters because we also know that they are essential. The Juniors program is there to offer a training and career plan adapted from juniors, so that they can look ahead. It can go very quickly or take as long as it needs, the goal being for the rider to go through the stages according to their learning and progress. There is no pressure or results goals among juniors. The long-term goal is for the rider to bring added value to the WorldTour team through his time in the junior program and in the Conti.
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