Procycling

As someone who hasn’t really explored their creative side, it has been fun for me to work with Ed and the team to create this magazine. There are some themes I wanted to research: cycling as a team sport and the perhaps so far undiscovered ideas of how an athlete’s personality can help determine which kind of training is most impactful and how an athlete’s background can determine their motivation to succeed. I find it fascinating to uncover what drives each athlete and how the people supporting them have helped shape them. It is impossible to share the limelight with every domestique and member of staff, or family and friends at home, but I have always wished that would be possible. The best leaders are the ones who acknowledge the…

Giro d’Italia, Stage 12 Siena, Italy 20 MAY 2021 The peloton rolls through Siena at the start of stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia. The Tuscan hilltop city usually hosts the finish of Strade Bianche, but this time the riders were able to go downhill from the start. The stage finished in Bagno di Romagna, where Andrea Vendrame would triumph from the breakaway, beating Chris Hamilton in the sprint. Jered Gruber, the photographer behind this picture, says: “I settled nervously around what amounted to almost a city switchback, but there were people everywhere, a car horribly placed almost right in the middle. It was chaos. And then, something happened - it was like the clouds parted, the sun shone through, and someone waved their magic wand. The car drove away…

First up, a big thank you to our guest editor Lizzie Deignan, who has done an excellent job of making this a very special edition of Procycling and has been nothing but helpful throughout the whole process of putting it together. I’m relegated from my usual position on page 7 to this unfamiliar position, but on the positive side, I’ve had my feet up while Lizzie has been busy chasing contributors, writing captions and checking page proofs. There is also news. This is going to be the last edition of Procycling, which is heading to the great cycling magazine graveyard in the sky after 22 brilliant years. The covid pandemic wasn’t kind to our newsstand sales, and while we enjoyed an increase in subscriptions (thank you!), the ongoing lockdowns had…

Where’s home? Dendermonde in Belgium, where my kids go to school, not far from where I grew up. There are probably better places to ride your bike in the winter, but Belgium has a good tradition and history, and you can always find nice roads. What’s your favourite race? The Tour of Flanders. I always have the honour of training on those roads. It is my favourite because of the atmosphere, being close to home and the history. But also being capable of winning is part of it. I think if I was a climber it would not be that race. You always search for things that you are good at. What’s your favourite climb? I like the Ardennes. I like La Redoute, for example. There are also some nice…

A very tall Dutch rider with prospects in the classics, then? Daan Hoole is stepping up to the WorldTour in 2022 with Trek-Segafredo after four years with the talent factory that is SEG Racing. What has he achieved with SEG? The Dutchman finished ninth at this year’s Tour de l’Avenir. Daan explains: “With the Dutch squad we were very successful and the way we were riding I enjoyed it. Finishing ninth in the GC is something I never thought I was able to do, as I am 198cm and 82 kilos. This was the first time I enjoyed climbing in the big mountains.” Is there anything else notable in his results? In one of his first races as a stagiaire with Trek-Segafredo, Daan finished eighth at Binche-Chimay-Binche, ahead of multiple…

Daan is a powerful rider, a good time triallist, and a good rider for the classics. At the same time, he can also survive on the long climbs, as we saw already in the Tour de l’Avenir. He was one of the guys who remained with the last 20 riders in the mountain stages. He can also be a really good team-mate for GC contenders. He’s not a sprinter or a puncheur, but I would say he is a powerful guy with a big engine. He is one of the oldest riders with the team, one of the most experienced guys, and he is ready for the next step. He was probably ready to step up to the WorldTour last year, but the pandemic has been a difficult period for…