In the Words of Kjell Carlstrom

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Kjell riding Amstel Gold with pre Vuelta 2011 Chris Froome
on his wheel. 

Describing someone as a Finnish cycling legend seems to be the definition of damning with faint praise but in the case of Kjell Carlstrom it's apt. He spent 10 years riding at the highest level of the sport before retiring after the 2011 season, since 2013 he's been working as a DS for the IAM Cycling team. I asked him whether he saw himself as more of a father figure or a teacher in his new role, "maybe a bit of both, I think when you get to the World Tour level you don't really need a teacher. You maybe need someone who reminds you of certain things and that's maybe more of a father. But of course when you are young in your first year you need a teacher but that is often another rider". Kjell spent almost all his career as a domestique but he doesn't believe that makes it easier for riders to listen to him but it does give him a different perspective, "it enables me to see things in a different way. If I would've been a top top rider it would've been more difficult. Everyone suffers the same whether you're the first guy or the last and you've been helping out".

Earlier in his career Kjell rode for the newly created team Sky who were famous for starting the "marginal gains" trend in modern cycling. "In 2010 they looked at marginal gains but they didn't look at the whole picture. When it started going good everyone else saw that and wanted to do the marginal gains and that's pushing the sport forward. You could say that if Sky never did the marginal gains then you would've needed less money to be winning as much. Now everybody is looking at marginal gains so everybody else is spending more money". With marginal gains, once a team develops a gain, wearing skinsuits in a road stage for example, it's often easy for other teams to replicate it, "somethings you can copy, it's not just about the material that you can get marginal gains from it's a lot about the skills and just doing things a little differently to what we did before. Some of those things they don't cost anything you just have to figure them out. At IAM we look at nutrition because the cyclist's motor has to be running on full. We look at recovery, straight after the race is it better to do some cooling or riding on the rollers and the same thing goes for the preparation before the race".

Kjell's greatest victory, a breakaway in
the 2008 Paris-Nice

As a rider Kjell would just fulfil his job and that would be it but as a DS he has the added difficulty of justifying sponsor's investment with results, I asked him whether it is possible to quantify a result, and if so would a stage winner have been more valuable than the top 10 overall at the Tour with Mathias Frank, "that's really difficult actually. The victory is always the victory so even if it's just one stage win the media coverage is so great that it's almost always better than a top 10. I would have to say that to quantify it a stage win is better. On the other hand our objective was to get a top 10, of course we wanted also to win a stage but there's not that many teams who can do both". For a team like IAM is it a case that you have to give up the top 10 to achieve a stage win? "Not necessarily, top 10 at the Tour is not something that you actually have to go all in for. We actually tried for the stage win with Mathias to Pra Loup but it didn't happen".

As we've said, Kjell's career was largely spent in the domestique role but he did have some chances to ride for himself and was encouraged to do this at his final pro team, Sky, "I think that Sky would've loved me do some more for myself but it's difficult making that switch back. Simon Gerrans he did well in that but he also has a little bit more of a winner's style than me". Having been on the side of the domestiques and the side of a protected rider I asked Kjell whether he found it difficult to ask riders to support him and how he felt knowing that 8 riders were sacrificing their chances for him, "Not really, I think most of the times you have to go for the best option and when you go for that option you go full gas. You don't go 50% or 80% you go 100%. You have to decide who it is and secondly you have to decide how to do it. You can have a second option but that doesn't mean you don't go 100% for the first option".

Throughout his career Kjell could often
be found driving the pace.

The current go to topic in cycling is power and as a relatively early adopter of the power meter I asked Kjell whether the amount of data that fans have access to at the moment is actually positive, "it's a good thing if everybody would have the knowledge to analyse the data and the problem is that there's not actually that many who can. You saw at the Tour the polemic that arose because even the so called experts weren't able to analyse it. I don't think Froome's numbers, obviously they were very special but I don't think they were that much more than everyone else". Kjell then went on to explain how knowing a rival's wattage would be advantageous to a team, "during a race it doesn't really matter. The thing is you need to know how he has achieved this number and then you can find some things that might work for you as well. If you just saw the power then it's not really a big advantage to you. If someone says that all the data should be public, I don't think that's a good thing because if someone has an advantage in training then they would be giving that advantage away. I think it would be different if it was stored in a safe place and some specialist would look at it. The biggest problem is that you can't always say that the power meter is 100% reliable because it depends on the weather and many different factors".

Most cycling fans would be able to name at most two Finnish cyclists, Kjell and Jussi Veikkanen. With the inclement weather and lack of racing it's hard to see where future cycling success will come from but Kjell is confident and passionate about Finnish cycling, "we have some good young riders who are showing themselves and we have created this project called Fincycling which is promoting cycling and trying to give young guys the funds to compete abroad. I think we are trying to do our best to move forward but it's not that easy. It's not the biggest sport in Finland but it's really really popular to cycle to work or as a hobby. I think in some years it will be different to how it is now and we're moving in the right direction". Finland is firmly in the developing nation category but would it benefit more from the presence of a UCI ranked race or a UCI ranked team? "I would have to choose both but if I have to make a choice I would go for the team because the team is something you can build around. You can get people interested in the team and the results and the results are constant throughout the year they're not just one time in the year like a race. It's also really nice to have a race because it gets the young people involved and it gives domestic riders a chance to ride against the big big names".

Since 2013 Kjell has swapped the bike for a more comfortable
team car.

At this point in the year Kjell shifts his focus away from purely racing and towards recruiting for the upcoming season but with such a volume of youth racing it's increasingly difficult to find hidden future stars, "we look at race results and use Pro Cycling Stats which is a great tool but then you also have to be scouting. You have to be looking at the U23 and the juniors and if you know them then you can even look at younger. At U23 they're a little bit older but you can really see how well they're doing". The other question is how much flexibility do management have when selecting riders for the next season, do they have to select Swiss riders because IAM is a Swiss sponsor? "No, not really. Of course the thing is that at the moment we have a lot of young guys and you can't have the whole team of young guys. We're not so much of a young team but we have lots of neo-pros so that can be an issue".

Kjell's racing career spanned three decades covering the most tumultuous times the sport has faced and he lists the anti-doping controls as one of the biggest changes he has seen. The other is less welcome, "there has been a real deterioration in respect for people and that is a bad thing. Maybe that's an issue with the world though because there seems to be less respect for people and things in general. Inside the peloton you have more crashes and more people taking stupid risks. It would be really really nice if the young kids were coming into the peloton and remembering about respect for other people. I think sometimes riders come up through development squads and think they've made it already but I also think that many riders are already so good so young and they have won so much throughout their career and so they are on a pedestal and they haven't been taught how to behave when they get to the pros. Before if you were a young rider the other riders would immediately tell you if you'd done something wrong and if you didn't understand the first time then the second time would be harsher".

Being first hasn't been something that has translated to his
quiz answers.

Having listened to Kjell for almost an hour it's clear that with his experience and softly spoken confidence the future of Finnish cycling and IAM cycling are in good hands. Kjell's position as one of two Finns who raced at the highest level is secure for now, and probably the next decade but in fifteen or twenty years that won't be such an exclusive club, that's certainly what he's hoping anyway.

Bike Route Hub: In 2011 you finished the Giro d'Italia, but can you name your team mate who finished behind you on GC?
Kjell Carlstrom: Behind me? That was a bad question! I would have to say that there was no one that finished behind me as a team mate. (It was Russell Downing, 1-0 BRH)

BRH: Who is the current Lithuanian Time Trial Champion?
KC: Saramontins? (Lithuanian, Kjell) Bagdonas? (It was Rasmunas Navaradasukas, 2-0 BRH)

BRH: Mathias Brandle set the hour record earlier this year but how far did he ride, to the nearest tenth of a kilometre?
KC: Ermmm, 51.185? (It was 51.85, 3-0 BRH) I got the right numbers but in the wrong order.

BRH: Thank you for your time
KC: Thank you.

Where Will Mark Cavendish Move Next Season?

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I'll start this article by explaining that the fact that Etixx have let Michal Kwiatkowski go to Sky means that there's significantly more money to spend on Cavendish's new contract combined with the rumour that the Manxman will take a wage cut and it seems fairly clear that he will stay at the Belgian team. If he does then is this the right move? And if not then where should he move?

Etixx - Quick Step

It's been a successful season this year for the Manxman
but where will he end up next year?

He joined in 2013 and had his second best season by wins, 19. Since then he's recorded 11 wins last year and 14 so far this year. At Etixx he's recorded 2 of his 5 best seasons by volume of wins but he hasn't seen the quality that he experienced earlier in his career. In the last two seasons he's only managed 4 World Tour stage wins, one of those in a Grand Tour.
The benefits of staying at Etixx are that he is the team's undisputed sprint leader so whichever race he starts he will have at least some riders protecting his interests. The team are also lacking a genuine overall contender, especially with Uran's recent decline.
The negatives of staying are that Cavendish could've won three or even four stages at the Tour this year were it not for substandard leadouts. Given that he's now been teamed back up with Mark Renshaw for the past two seasons it's a surprise to see these mistakes still happening. The question is, who can replace the Australian and will the emergence of Fernando Gaviria challenge the Manxman?

Verdict: Cavendish will stay for next season especially now that Kwiatkowski has left but if the results don't improve expect him to move elsewhere for 2017.

Trek Factory Racing

Nizzolo is a Grand Tour points winner, what will his role
be if Cavendish joins?

The rumour is that Trek are lining up a move for Cavendish. On the face of it there's good logic behind this move. Trek aren't a prolific team, they've only won 13 races so far this season, one less than Cavendish so it makes sense for them to sign a high level sprinter. The problem is that even as far back as Leopard-Trek they've never really had a sprinter in the team and the set up required to bring Cavendish is vast. Firstly they need to develop, or buy, a lead out man to support Cav. Then they need to develop three or four men with big diesel engines who can form a train. Will Cavendish want to risk a year of his career by going to Trek?

Verdict: It makes sense for Trek but, at 30, it's too much of a risk for Cavendish to move.

MTN - Qhubeka

Edvald Boasson Hagen was brought in with the hope that he
would find his earlier form, that hasn't happened. Can Cav
do any better?

The biggest question mark about Cavendish going to MTN is whether they can afford his near £1 million salary. The second question is whether they are in a position to take full advantage of his sprinting ability. They shouldn't have an issue with lead out men given that they signed a bevy of ageing sprinters for this year. They should also be in a position to beef up their lead out train if they decide to turn to the World Tour for next season. But there's a general lack of quality in the team at the moment.

Verdict: It makes sense to head to a team with no overall contenders but why risk this move at this point in your career? I could see him joining the African team in 3-5 seasons though.

Tinkoff-Saxo

Tinkoff has the cheque book to bring in Cavendish, but does
it make sense?

Personally I don't see this as a realistic option but I'm covering it here because there have been rumours. Oleg Tinkoff certainly has the purchasing power to bring Cavendish over to the Russian team but why would he? He can't support Cavendish at the Tour because next year will be all about Alberto Contador. Also, he has Peter Sagan who is a virtually guaranteed green jersey winner, although he needs to reign in his attacks if he wants to win a stage. After his experiences with Sky I don't expect Cav to ever go to another team that has a very strong overall contender, Tinkoff-Saxo might become a more realistic proposition once Contador has retired.

Verdict: It doesn't really make any sense as a move either to Cavendish or Tinkoff. Again, it might be a more realistic option in a few seasons.

Rising Stars: Nico Denz

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You still have to do a lot of things when you're an amateur,
that changes in the Pro ranks though.

Ag2r are a very typical French team, they step up a level for the Tour and they tend to sign exclusively French riders. What many people don't realise is that they also have a development team located in the Alpine city of Chambery that has been producing World Tour pros like Silvan Diller, Ben Gasteur and Romain Bardet. It is with this team that the talent of Nico Denz was spotted and nurtured and it is this team that he will be leaving to pursue a career at the highest level with the senior Ag2r squad. I asked Nico how he thought this season had gone, "at the beginning of the season I was already sure of turning professional at the end of the season so I thought I would help my team mates to turn professional as well. So I took part in the races aiming to help my team mates and it went pretty well, I had some good results but not the big ones. I learnt that I couldn't help my team mates and be in position at the end of the day as well". This realisation sparked an attitude change that led to Nico trying to win for himself, "I put myself under a lot of pressure and it didn't work out. I told myself that I didn't have anything to prove but I did have something to prove, I had to prove that I could turn professional and that I deserved it. In June my season turned really good at the Tour du Pays de Savoie where I came 7th overall".

Nico is an all rounder but he's very
talented against the clock

At the start of July he then came 3rd in the U23 German National championships despite riding with no team mates, "It's really hard because when you are riding by yourself you have to be everywhere and close down everything whereas the teams can send men up the road and then cover the attacks".

After the troubles that German cycling has faced in the last few years it is in need of talented young riders like Nico. It seems odd then that his amateur career and now his pro career will be spent in French teams. "In Germany cycling went really unpopular around Ulrich and Armstrong and all the sponsors went out of cycling so it was really hard to find a team and at that time we only had a team in East Germany which is really far from my home on the Swiss boarder. My coach contacted the Ag2r development team in Chambery and I met them at the World Championships and decided to join". This year Denz has become a full pro from the 1st of August but last year he fulfilled the role of stagiare for Ag2r, "I got some nice results in the Coupe de France series which is the national amateur series. I got 2nd in a time trial and the overall of one and I won another one in July. I got the stagiare and I decided together with my manager and Vincent Lavenu not to turn pro straight away".

Looking out for the future.

Many cycling fans will have looked at the situation in Germany, where the Tour de France disappeared from German TVs for many years and question why Germans lost such confidence in cycling when France, Spain and Italy continued to love it. Nico has an interesting take on why this was the case, "it's different in Spain, Italy or France because it's a sport everyone loves but in Germany it's much less than football. In Germany we want to search for a villain and drugs they're not just in cycling they're everywhere in sport. I think as well that it was a big German icon in Ulrich who fell down and it was a German team, Telekom and I think it was just too much".

Nico is clearly developing into a very exciting talent and his plans for the future back up this talent, "in my first year I just want to integrate into the team and then I want to start winning, maybe not the first year but the next year I would love to win a race. In five years I would love to be at the start of the Tour de France". He has the benefit of being in the development team for so long which should aid his integration, "there are a lot of riders who have done it the same way as me, the farm team and then pro team so I will be seeing the same faces. I don't think it will be a problem". One thing is for sure though, Nico Denz will stand out in the Ag2r team and not just because he is a German in a sea of French riders.

Already a winner in Ag2r colours.

Bike Route Hub: At last years Poly Normande who was the highest ranked Ag2r rider?
Nico Denz: Ah it was Samuel Dumoulin? (It was indeed, 1-0 Nico)

BRH: Can you name the three national time trial champions at Movistar?
ND: Okay there's Malori from Italy, a Spanish champion......... (Not a bad effort, Castroviejo is the Spanish champion and Dowsett is the British champion 1-1)

BRH: How many Tour stages has Tony Martin won?
ND: That's a difficult one, he won last year a normal stage and this year a normal stage then how many time trials? He won one time trial last year, so 3, then in one year he won 2 so that's 5. Did he win any before that, I think two more so I'll go with 7. (Should've stuck with 5! 2-1 BRH wins)

BRH: Thank you Nico!
ND: Ciao

Team Rankings: Tour de France 2015

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It's the end of another Tour de France and, although the GC might have been dormant for most of the three weeks, we still had some incredible individual stages. The wins of Steve Cummings in Mende, Joaquin Rodriguez on the Mur de Huy and Greg Van Avemaet in Rodez were three of the best. It's also been a year where many teams will be disappointed with their performances and some will be wondering what the exact point of turning up was.

Vuillermoz's victory set the trend for the French team.

Ag2r-La Mondiale - A+
Halfway through the first week, with Bardet losing time on most stages, it looked likely to be a lean year for the French team. Then Vuillermoz wins on Mur-de-Bretagne and Romain Bardet added another stage in the final week and ended up finishing 9th overall to cap off a brilliant race for them.

Lotto Soudal - A+
Four stage wins and a brilliant GC ride by Tony Gallopin for two weeks mean that the Belgian team have by far won the battle of the lottery teams. Greipel came 1st in four of the five pure sprint stages and 2nd in the remaining stage. Gallopin was cultivating a surprise top 10 until he came unstuck in the Alps but it was still a brilliant race for the team.

Team Sky - A
It may seem a little harsh to rank Sky with an A rather than A+ however with just one stage win and a distant second place in the team competition cut them down. Froome dominated for much of the race but he was sometimes left isolated in the third week, still, it was a marvellous performance by the British team.

Etixx-Quick Step - A-
The fact that they did nothing for the 2nd and 3rd week shouldn't take anything away from their stunning opening week. Stage wins for Martin, Stybar and Cavendish and a top 10 for Rigoberto Uran and two days in yellow for Tony Martin meant that the Belgian squad had achieved their Tour aims. The Tour was a huge disappointment for Cavendish who was consistently left isolated in sprint finishes and looked a long way short of his earlier season form.

Movistar - A-
No stage wins and a lack of attacking intent from Nairo Quintana, until it was too late, means that A- is maybe a slightly inflated score for the Spanish team. However, a 2nd and 3rd overall and plenty of numbers in breaks towards the end of the race still makes this an excellent race for Movistar who probably over-delivered on pre-race expectations.

MTN-Qhubeka - A-
The expectations before the Tour were for a top 15 from Louis Meintjes and maybe a stage win from Boasson Hagen. Neither of those really performed but Daniel Teklehaimanot made their Tour a success in the opening week when he took the king of the mountains jersey. A very thick varnish was applied in the second week when Steve Cummings took his first stage win and very probably the best stage win of the entire race when he appeared from nowhere to beat Bardet and Pinot. "Just who is that behind because that looks like Cummings, it is, it's Steven Cummings".

Katusha - B+
If you took Joaquin Rodriguez out of the team then you would have a band of well paid riders traipsing round France. Luckily, they did have the Spaniard who took two stage wins and had a spell in the king of the mountains jersey. It wasn't all plain sailing though, Kristoff didn't turn up at all and Luca Paolini was kicked off the Tour after testing positive for cocaine.

BMC - B+

Rohan Dennis' victory was a highpoint in a turbulent
Tour.

A perfect first two weeks, Rohan Dennis smashed the opening time trial then lost the yellow jersey the next day but it was a sacrifice worth making to pull Tejay Van Garderen higher up the GC. They then won the team time trial and Greg Van Avermaet took an unbelievable stage win to Rodez but that was the high point. Van Garderen abandoned on the first stage in the Alps and BMC limped over the line to Paris.

Tinkoff-Saxo - B
A generally frustrating Tour for the Russian super team. The attempt at the Giro-Tour double was brave but as soon as Contador lined up on the start line of the Giro he was raising the white flag on his Tour assault. He will return next year for one last crack at yellow jersey success. Peter Sagan won the green jersey but only looked close to winning once in Rodez. Rafa Majka took the team's only stage success in the Pyrenees.

IAM Cycling - B
You might've expected IAM to do more in the breaks and less in the GC but instead they managed to be largely anonymous from breaks and sneak Mathias Frank into the top 10 with no media presence at all. They would probably have preferred a stage win but it was still a successful race for the small Swiss team.

FDJ.fr - B-
It started horribly with William Bonnet breaking his neck in the stage 3 crash and the opening week didn't get any better when Thibault Pinot consistently lost time until the final stage in the Pyrenees. The final week was a revelation though, Pinot was still in the race and seemingly attacking on every single stage, he saved his Tour with a stage win into Alpe d'Huez.

Team Giant Alpecin - B-
Before their Tour option A was Marcel Kittel, he never made it to Utrecht after a truly horrible season. That left option B as John Degenkolb. He nose dived in July which took them to option C, Warren Barguil. Barguil had a terrific opening week and managed to hold on in the Pyrenees but he suffered in the third week and ended up 14th overall, still a good result for a debut Tour. Their biggest surprise was German Simon Geschke who tried, unsuccessfully, to win from a break in the Pyrenees. He finally got lucky on the stage to Pra Loup and held off a bevy of more talented climbers to take the biggest win of his career and save Giant's Tour.

Lampre - Merida - B-
They will be question exactly what happened to big money signing Rui Costa at the Tour. The Portuguese rider had been building a good palmares this season but he started slowly at the Tour, got worse, then abandoned in the Pyrenees. Once Costa went it was obvious how weak the rest of the team were but Ruben Plaza saved their Tour by holding off a plummeting Peter Sagan to win in Gap.

Astana - C+
Their Tour started under a cloud when Lieuwe Westra failed the cortisol test which, by MPCC rules, should've kept him out of the Tour. Instead they started him anyway and got expelled from the MPCC. Then Nibali had a shocker through the Pyrenees losing continuous time until he came back strongly in the third week and took a stage win on La Toussuire. The Tour was a mess though with leaks springing up from the team and Nibali about his future.

LottoNL - Jumbo - C+
It's been a truly terrible year so far for the Dutch team and they weren't able to add to their 2 wins at the Tour. They also struggled to get into breaks or to look even remotely like they would take a stage win. The resurgence of Robert Gesink and his 6th place overall was welcome but frankly the sponsors will be wondering exactly what they're getting for their money.

Trek Factory Racing - C
It started well when Fabian Cancellara took the yellow jersey on stage 2 but he crashed on stage 3 and was out of the race that evening. Bob Jungels looked to be a good rider for the future as he infiltrated break after break in the final week and Bauke Mollema ghosted into the top 10. That was about it.

One of the only times Bora and Bretagne were visible.

Bora - Argon 18 - C-
Nothing was expected from the low budget German team and, to be honest, they only slightly beat those expectations. Jan Barta kept getting into breaks in the first week then Emmanuel Buchmann took a surprise third in the stage to Cauterets - that was about it.

Team Europcar - C-
After Jean-Rene Bernaudeau had talked up Pierre Rolland's chances of overall success it was a horrific first week for the tiny French team. After two stages Rolland was 6.48 back and although he moved from 170th to 10th in GC it was still a disappointment. What was even more surprising was the lack of Tommy Voeckler in the race. Despite the fact that a sponsor has been found for next year this was likely to be the Martinique born riders final shot at the race that made him a household name in 2004, it was sad that he went out with such a whimper.

Cannondale Garmin - D+
Going to the Tour with one overall favourite and not getting anywhere in the GC is unlucky, going with two is foolish and going with three and still not getting anywhere makes you look very silly indeed. Talansky was the highest placed at 11th but he was more than 22 minutes down. He, Dan Martin and Ryder Hesjedal all got 2nd places on stages but when you throw that much talent at the proverbial wall you expect some of it to stick.

Orica - GreenEDGE - D+
They're ranked this lowly largely through no fault of their own. Their opening week crashes wiped out a third of the team and had the UCI busily searching their own rulebooks to see what would happen if they had to start the team time trial with fewer than 5 riders. In the second and third weeks there was a tacit understanding that only the Yates brothers could appear at the front of the race, they managed some top 10s between them. Credit goes to Michael Matthews who struggled through the whole race after an early crash and got a top 10 on the Champs Elysees.

Bretagne Seche Environnement - D
If you're at a cycling friendly pub you might be asked to name the 8 Tour de France finishers in the Sky team. A harder question might be this, name just one rider from Bretagne Seche who finished the Tour - you have 8 to go at. They were almost entirely invisible including in breaks. Eduardo Sepulveda, their main chance for success, was disqualified on the stage to Mende for taking a ride in the Ag2r team car. Unfortunately their inclusion in the Tour only serves to boost Jim Ochowicz's argument that there's too many teams in the Tour.

Cofidis - E

At the back, Cofidis' natural
position.

They started an unfit Nacer Bouhanni and then he pulled out in the first week. That was literally it. It's not possible to put into words how anonymous the payday loan sponsored team were. They won €16,340 in prize money for the whole race - roughly the amount you'd have to pay if you took out a €1,000 loan and then were one day late paying it back. In all seriousness this team need to find someone to back up Bouhanni or they're in danger of disappearing into total obscurity.

In the Words of Ignatas Konovalovas

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In happier times at the Cervelo Test Team

Most cycling fans will be familiar with the brilliant Beyond the Peloton series of short documentaries produced during the Cervelo Test Team's two seasons in the sport. Anybody who saw those videos couldn't help but be captivated by the softly spoken Lithuanian, Ignatas Konovalovas. "The best moments of my career would be the two years at the Cervelo Test Team, the team we had and the Giro stage win, that was the best period of my career". During his career Ignatas has raced for two start-up teams, Cervelo and MTN-Qhubeka, "everyone is new in the team so it's not like you go to a family which has their routine and everything, you are part of building the routine and the culture. You don't need to integrate into something, you are all integrating together". In between the two new teams he joined Movistar, who have been around for 35 years in a number of different guises, I asked him about that transition, "I was thinking a lot about it when I moved to Movistar. I think Cervelo was the best team ever and the problem with that is that it was such a great team and such a great atmosphere and so professional that after that everything feels like a step down. I don't say that it was bad at Movistar but when you go down from Cervelo to Movistar it feels like taking a step back like 5 or 10 years. When your results just suddenly go down then you start to think even more about it".

The arrival of the Cervelo Test Team seemed to raise the curtain on a new era of cycling and, although Sky are often credited with the 'marginal gains' approach to cycling, it was the Cervelo team who were early adopters of many of the technologies which are now seen as de rigour in the peloton, "2009 was the first year where teams started to ride aero race jerseys and teams were laughing at us but then in 2010 all the teams were wearing them and if you weren't then the teams were laughing at you. When I joined the team I felt like I was going back to school, for one of the first meetings we met every sponsors and they explained to us why we are using these tyres or why we are using these handlebars or these wheels". Having seen the improvements that attention to detail and technology could bring to a team it was interesting to see how much of this Konovalovas was able to take to his future teams, "what I had in my head I kept with me but it's not like you can come into a new team and say this is it this is how it should be. What I liked from Eusebio Unzue when I joined Movistar was that I was asked how things were done at Cervelo and what they could do differently. I was amazed when I joined Movistar in 2011 that they didn't have an osteopath. In Cervelo at every race we had a osteopath, chiropractor or at least a high quality physio so it was stuff like that that I shared my opinion about".

Wearing the King of the Mountains Jersey at the Tour du
Haut Var this year.

On a personal level the stage win Ignatas took during the 2009 Giro, where he also supported Carlos Sastre to 4th, later changed to 2nd after disqualifications, has been the highlight of his career so far, "that was incredible, in fact that Giro as a whole was my best memory in cycling. Those three weeks were incredible because we had four stage wins and 2nd overall. Doing a first Grand Tour and taking a stage win as well you just can't explain how good it is".

The reason why cycling captures the imagination so well is because everybody knows what it is like to ride a bike and what it is like to ride a bike fast or race a friend and although the distances and speeds for the pros are greater the fundamentals remain the same. What very few people can truly understand though is what it feels like to ride a bike day after day for three weeks, "well of course it is exhausting it's very hard, I don't know how the GC guys are feeling when they have to fight every day 100%. For us, the support riders, we can think, well I feel shit today I'll get dropped in the first gruppeto and try and survive. For me I was always getting into a really bad day around stage 8 or 10 and thinking what am I doing here and will I finish. But on the other hand it's like if you see a bunch of sheep crossing a road, one sheep will cross and all the others follow and if the stupid sheep decides to run up a climb then all the others run up the climb so it's like a routine and you're all doing the same thing so you feel like a robot and you can do it without thinking". The reality of a Grand Tour is that it's incredibly hard, can you ever enjoy riding a Grand Tour? "I rode six Grand Tours and I can say that there were some I really enjoyed and some I didn't so much or at least there were periods where I really enjoyed it. In general though to ride a Grand Tour it's nice and it's something that I'm missing".

The spoils for the winner of the 4 Days of Dunkerque

Ignatas currently rides for the French team Marseille 13-KTM at the Continental level, he describes what led to him making the decision to move down the hierarchy, "I got informed that I will not be a part of the MTN-Qhubeka team in September at the World Championship, it was so late but I could smell it coming really but still I had no information". When talking about the contract situation in cycling and the increasing difficulty in finding a contract, Ignatas paints a worrying picture, "every year now for maybe three years I hear guys say 'this year is the worst it's been' and every year it's the same and it's getting worse and worse".

For many riders a move to a lower level can be the perfect launchpad to move back up to the World Tour level and that is the same for Konovalovas, "that was my big ambition for the year to do everything to show that I could come back to the levels I was at before. It's really hard though because all my results were in France so I can't go to BMC and say 'take me on for the year' because we'd never done a race together, maybe all year we will do one or two of the same races". It's true though that Ignatas is an attractive prospect to any team, he's a Grand Tour stage winner and he won the 4 Days of Dunkerque in May, "there has been some talks but so far just talks. I have an agent and he is talking, like every agent he is talking all the time, but I think things will move after the Tour".

Kitted out in the futuristic Cervelo gear.

Ignatas' home country of Lithuanian is one of the smallest and poorest in the EU but they consistently punch above their weight in cycling, I ask him what he thinks the future holds, "I actually think the future is bright, not the immediate future maybe but 10/15 years. There are more and more people who are working their jobs and then going out and buying new bikes and that is a good thing but at the professional level we really need a continental team in Lithuania to grow the sport. Ramunas Navaradauskas is really the last generation of riders coming through, there are a few guys around riding at the amateur level but there's not really anyone else at the moment". The link between the Baltic cyclists and the amateur team in Marseille is now firmly established but Ignatas explains the luck, and love, that started it, "there was actually a family in Marseille and the guy was dating a Lithuanian girl so he would spend the winter in Lithuania. I was 21/22 and looking to maybe go abroad to a team and he said 'there's a team in Marseille I can ask them'. I joined them and Evaldas Siskevicius (ed. who currently rides at Marseille 13-KTM) joined the year after and they seemed to be happy with us. We were young but we knew what we were doing and we had a desire to turn pro and we weren't just riding our bikes for pleasure".

Despite his biggest victory coming in a time trial, he has an interesting answer when quizzed on whether he will be looking for a good result in the World Championships Time Trial, "Actually no, I don't know what's happened but I no longer consider myself as a time triallist. Every time I was focussing on that and I start and I go and I come to the line and I look and think, ahh it's nothing special. I spent four years like that. I'm not really actually motivating myself for the time trials that much I'm more motivating myself for the road races that suit me. It's interesting for me why I've moved away from that, if I could explain it that would be nice".

We've come to the end of our time with the incredibly interesting Ignatas Konovalovas but as per usual we finish with a three question quiz, no one has ever got them all right remember...

BRH: At the 2009 Giro you finished ahead of two team mates in the GC, can you name them?
IK: Okay, Jeremy Hunt and who else was there? Lloydy? (Correct, Jez Hunt and Dan Lloyd 1-0 Ignatas)

BRH: Who is the current Estonian National Time Trial Champion?
IK: I don't know how to pronounce his name but Joeåår (Correct again, Gert Joeåår of Cofidis 2-0)

BRH: How many second places has Peter Sagan had at the Tour so far this year? (The question was asked after Stage 13)
IK: 4 - I saw a tweet from Tinkoff (Correct again, a whitewash! 3-0)

BRH: Thank you very much!
IK: Thank you.

How Nairo Quintana Can Win the Tour

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It's the final rest day of the 2015 Tour de France and we go into it with the Chris Froome as the overwhelming favourite. Behind him there's four possible challengers; Nairo Quintana, Tejay Van Garderen, Alejandro Valverde and Alberto Contador. In my opinion, only Quintana can actually challenge Froome's domination. But how can he end Team Sky's domination?

Attack the Final Week

Can Quintana finally break Froome?

In 2013 Quintana went from having a 5.47 deficit to Froome to closing 1.20 in the final week. That final week included a time trial and only 3 mountain stages, this year he has 4 mountain stages to break Froome. In the 2014 Giro, Quintana also had a storming final week. He came from 2.40 down on the final rest day to leading by 2.58 by the end of the race. When put in the context of his previous third week rides the current 3.10 gap doesn't appear quite so massive.

Go From a Long Way Out
Quintana is yet to really launch a full blooded attack. It was clear that he didn't have the legs when Froome went away on La Pierre Saint Martin but since then he's clung to the British rider's wheel. Unfortunately for the Columbian, Froome can ride perfectly to a set power output and this discipline means that he is unlikely to crack on a climb and lose bags of time. Instead he might loose small amounts of time each day.
As we know Team Sky are famous for their marginal gains but these rely on a very controlled type of race. If Movistar can make the race chaotic early on then they can tear up the Sky plan. That also brings us onto the third way Quintana can end the domination of Froome.

Reduce Froome's Support

Movistar need to be the strongest team in the final week.

Froome was very well protected on the potentially damaging stage to Plateau de Beille. The attacks of Quintana were hauled back, firstly by Richie Porte and later by the extraordinary Geraint Thomas. The fact that Geraint has remained in 6th place is testament to the lack of explosiveness the main favourites have shown. Although Geraint is clearly a phenomenal rider he is a diesel in the mountains, wind him up and stick him on the front and he will quite happily ride for an hour and close down gaps. What you won't get is any sudden accelerations.
What Movistar need to do is try and isolate Froome as soon as they can in a stage. This might have gotten easier now that Pete Kennaugh has abandoned. Sky have been leaning very heavily on the trio of Poels, Porte and Thomas in the mountains. If Movistar can chip two of them off before the final climb then Froome begins to look very isolated and Quintana can strike.

Conclusion
Is it possible for Quintana to close this gap? Yes. But, the Brit has such a stranglehold on the race that Nairo has to loosen this grip before he can even think about taking time back. What is certain though, is that the little Columbian can't just wait until the final climb and then try and take victory, he needs to take some serious risks.

Should the French be Concerned?

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We're 11 stages into the 2015 Tour de France and we've had a French stage winner and two French riders in the top 10. It doesn't sound like such a bad race for the French. However, the two early pre-race French hopes; Bardet and Pinot, have collapsed under the weight of expectation leaving Vuillermoz, Barguil and Gallopin to pick up the pieces. Of those three only Gallopin and Barguil are in line for a good overall finish.

The Gallopin Tour Story

It's been a good first 2 weeks for Gallopin

Tony Gallopin has crept up the leaderboard during the Tour without disturbing the French press and the pressure that that would bring. He did what so many of the main favourites failed to do and navigated the opening week without missing any major breaks. If you're looking for similarities to riders in the past then your best bet is 2013 Michal Kwiatkowski. He was a hilly classics style rider who ghosted to a high overall placing through the first week before drifting away when the mountains really kicked in.
I'm interested to see how far Gallopin can go and his victory in the Classica San Sebastian in 2013 was one of the finest pieces of bike riding I've seen in a long time but I fear that he will be found out on the Queen stage to Plateau de Beille tomorrow.

The Barguil Tour Story
Warren Barguil will almost certainly finish this Tour with the unwanted label of "France's next Tour winner". He's had a similar route to his high overall placing as Gallopin, a strong opening week, his bookended by a woeful individual time trial and team time trial though. He's been found out in the two Pyrenean stages so far but not had enough time put into him to fall out of the top 10. Barguil is also disadvantaged by the fact that as soon as the route crosses the first climb he is totally isolated.

Barguil can't rely on his team mates.

If Barguil can hold onto his top 10 position then he will be feted as the new Hinault, perhaps a more favourable outcome for the 23 year old Frenchman would be a collapse now and a stage win in the Alps.

What happened to Pinot and Bardet?
The collapse of both Pinot and Bardet has been one of the most surprising aspects of this years Tour de France. Both came into the race with genuine non-French results and both had had very good warm up races at the Dauphine and Tour de Suisse. Having said that the collapse of Pinot was perhaps more surprising, especially given his brilliant opening time trial where he was the highest ranked of the overall contenders. Since then he's lurched from one disaster to another, he was caught out on the second stage then dropped on the third stage then he had a mechanical on the cobbles. By day 4 he was 6:30 down but he still had the mountains to come and a top 5 was unlikely but still a possibility. Instead he looked more comfortable in the opening week and he's been dropped twice and lies 35th, 34 minutes down.

Pinot as he waited for a new bike on the cobbles.

Bardet's decline has been notable by just how low key it's been. He didn't have a great first week but he was in 21st position on the rest day and since then he's failed to finish in the top 20 on either of the mountain stages. There's still hope for him to find some form for the Alps and he could yet leave the Tour with a stage win but it would be a very optimistic Frenchman who would consider that a successful Tour.

Conclusion
French pro cyclists have spent the last decade teasing their fans that they might be edging close to an overall win, or even a podium in the Tour before completely tanking the next year. Thibaut Pinot is a first rate Grand Tour contender but he is mentally fragile and needs to improve on this. Perhaps the solution is to send him to compete at the Giro next year? Bardet is another exceptional rider, who, for some reason, has turned up at this Tour looking very second rate. Behind them the likes of Vuillermoz and Barguil can be placed in the box marked "ones to watch" although Vuillermoz is 27. Tony Gallopin could maybe turn himself into an overall contender but for the moment he's a hilly classics man who will struggle in the remaining stages of the Tour.
In short, the French should be worried, there will always be young riders coming through but in Pinot and Bardet they have two of the best climbers in the peloton and they need to nurture them to ensure that they fulfil their potential.

The Winners and Losers of the Tour so Far

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We're six days into the Tour but we've already had some of the best stages in recent Tour memory. In this article we look at the 3 big winners and the 3 riders who have had a woeful start to the 2015 Tour de France.

3 Biggest Losers
Cofidis

This just about sums up the French team's Tour so far.

Most people would consider the title of "biggest loser" to be a sleight, however it's not the case for the small French team who have made a career out of being honourable losers. Unfortunately, this year they might just be a team of losers. They came into the Tour and their best chance at glory was a Nacer Bouhanni with bruised ribs. He crashed out on stage 5 to Amiens and left Cofidis in a bit of a hole. They have no real stage win threat and their usual top 20 rider, Dani Navarro, is currently lying almost 27 minutes back. They got themselves into a break with Kenneth Vanbilsen on stage 6 but it looks like it's going to be a very lean 3 weeks.

Yellow Jersey Holders
A yellow jersey is always a great honour. Unfortunately this year it seems to have brought bad luck along with it. So far we've had 4 holders of the maillot jaune (Dennis, Cancellara, Froome & Martin). I'm writing this after stage 6 where Martin has abandoned with a collarbone break. That would mean that of the 4 jersey holders; 2 have crashed out injured and one, Dennis, prematurely lost his jersey. Only Froome has "voluntarily" handed his jersey back. Froome will have the jersey back, but will he also have the terrible luck that has so far accompanied the jersey?

Thibault Pinot

Pinot during his meltdown on the cobbled stage 4

He came into the race with huge expectations and raised them on the first stage when he was the highest placed GC rider in the time trial. Since then his face has lurched from one disaster to another. He lost time in the crosswind splits on stage 2, then he lost time after getting dropped on the penultimate climb on stage 3 to Huy, then he lost even more time on the cobbled 4th stage. He's now in 30th place 6.30 down. He's still a brilliant climber so expect him to make time back as soon as we start heading uphill but he's lost too much to be a genuine podium consideration.

3 Biggest Winners
Warren Barguil

Barguil has flown under the radar so far.

He came to the Tour with the intension of learning and maybe trying for a stage win in the mountains. He had a terrible opening time trial, finishing in 127th place, but since then he's always been at the head of the peloton and as other riders lost time in crosswinds and crashes he hasn't and now lies 11th overall. The media haven't quite caught up with Barguil's excellent performance yet, he's the highest ranked Frenchman, so he has had a pressure free start to the race. He needs to try and keep up his high overall placing when the race hits the Pyrenees, if he can do that then we have a legitimate future star on our hands.

Chris Froome
Froome again had a poor start but he's been expertly guided through the difficult classics style stages by his team and he's now back in yellow. He went into the Tour as one of four huge favourites for the Tour, Quintana, Nibali and Contador are the others. After just 6 stages he is ahead of them all on GC and has a significant advantage going into the second weekend and the Pyrenees beyond that. One thing that will have worried the Brit is that his mountain domestiques haven't looked on top form yet. Richie Porte has missed every single break and lies in 158th position, Nicolas Roche has also missed the breaks and he is back in 69th position. This means that a huge amount of work has landed on Geraint Thomas' shoulders and Sky would've liked to save him for the high mountains.

African Cycling

An African hero!

When Daniel Teklehaimanot rode down the start ramp in Utrecht he became the first ever black African cyclist to start a Tour de France. On stage 6 he rode up 3 geographically insignificant climbs on the north coast of France but, in doing so slightly quicker than his two breakaway companions, he rode himself into a position that can never be taken away from him. He is the first ever black African cyclist to wear a Tour de France jersey and looking back at his performance in the Dauphine Libere, there's no reason to think he can't hang onto it.

Three Things we've learnt so far

Wow! What an opening weekend of the 2015 Tour de France. We've had the fastest stage in Tour history on Saturday and the most exciting stage for a number of years on Sunday. In this post we will look at the three things that we've learnt from the first two stages.

3. Quintana is in Crisis

Quintana is in a dangerous place at the moment.

It might be a bit early to suggest that Quintana is in crisis but he didn't have a good time trial and he's now lost 1.23 to the other major favourites before we've even hit the cobbles of stage 4. He is the best climber in the race so this time loss isn't decisive yet, but, he would've hoped to have lost that time for the whole first week rather than just the first two days. He now has to face the cobbled stage 4 and team time trial without losing any more time to guys like Froome or Contador. It's going to be a frantic week as the Columbian focuses on maintaining his time gap to the favourites, he might even be able to reduce it on the stages finishing on the Mur-de-Huy or the Mur-de-Bretagne.

2. Bardet vs Pinot

Pinot is storming ahead in the French battle.

In the battle of the French riders, Pinot is definitely winning. He had a storming time trial on Saturday where he finished best of all the realistic GC contenders and then he was caught behind the split on Sunday. Bardet, on the other hand, has had a very difficult start to the race. He's been overshadowed by Peraud, his elderly team mate and he lies 3 minutes behind Cancellara and 1.53 behind Pinot.
Both have the potential to finish in the top 5 but Bardet will need his luck to change drastically if he's to do this. Pinot is in a similar situation to Quintana in that he needs to stop losing time in this first week, the difference however is that Quintana has a team who can turn in a decent time trial, Pinot doesn't have that luxury.

1. Van Garderen for GC

Could Van Garderen surprise us all?

I was a little unsure of Van Garderen's chances in the Tour. He's a strong rider but his time is sub par and his climbing is not as strong as the other overall challengers. However, in these two stages he's shown that he does have an important characteristic which is that he's always at the front. His team is built for the opening week and they need to build as large a buffer as they can now and in the TTT before they wilt in the mountains.
Tejay is the highest ranked of the overall contenders at the moment and he should fare well on the cobbles, he also has one of the best team time trialling squads behind him so, if he takes advantage of all those opportunities, he could enter the Pyrenees with a minute advantage over everyone else. If that happens then he could hold it to Paris.

The Debutantes: What to expect

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Every year we have a bunch of debutantes making their first steps in the biggest and best grand tour of the lot. This year is no exception but, this year, we have an incredibly talented pool of Tour virgins who also qualify for the white jersey, I have listed them all here along with a brief description of what the race might hold for them.

Kudus is one of 2 Eritreans on the Tour.

 Merhawi Kudus

Country: Eritrea

Team: MTN-Qhubeka

Age: 21

GT Experience: 92nd 2014 Vuelta

What to expect in a sentence: Youngest rider on the Tour and a fantastic climber who will ride in support of Louis Meintjes and may be given is own chances later in the race.

Florian Senechal

Country: France

Team: Cofidis

Age: 22

GT Experience: None

What to expect in a sentence: Very strong classics style rider, he will be targeting the first week, look to see him on the attack in the cobbled stage.

Adam Yates

Country: Great Britain

Team: Orica GreenEDGE

Age: 22

GT Experience: 82nd 2014 Vuelta

What to expect in a sentence: He will probably be deployed to ride in support of his brother but he might have his own chances on the mountainous stages.

Dylan Van Baarle

Country: Netherlands

Team: Cannondale-Garmin

Age: 23

GT Experience: DNF 2014 Giro 

What to expect in a sentence: Tour of Britain winner last year and strong time trialler, could be a top 10 on the opening stage.

Louis Meintjes

Country: South Africa

Team: MTN-Qhubeka

Age: 23

GT Experience: 55th 2014 Vuelta

What to expect in a sentence: Unbelievable talent, he will have the support of his team and a top 10 overall certainly isn’t out of reach.

Christophe Laporte

Country: France

Team: Cofidis

Age: 23

GT Experience: None

What to expect in a sentence: A bit of an unknown quantity, he showed some good form earlier in the season on the hilly races so expect him to go well in the first week.

Bob Jungels

Country: Luxembourg

Team: Trek Factory Racing

Age: 23

GT Experience: DNF 2014 Vuelta

What to expect in a sentence: He comes complete with the Luxembourg time trial and road race champion’s jersey and he has a good chance of a high GC placing after the first week.

Emmanuel Buchmann

Country: Germany

Team: Bora-Argon 18

Age: 22

GT Experience: None

What to expect in a sentence: Surprise German national road champion and excellent climber, came 7th on the stage to La Toussuire in last years Tour de l’Avenir.

Michael Valgren

Country: Denmark

Team: Tinkoff-Saxo

Age: 23

GT Experience: 128th 2014 Vuelta

What to expect in a sentence: Good rider in the hilly classics but he will be used to shepherd Contador through the difficult first week.

Wellens is already a classy all rounder

Tim Wellens

Country: Belgium

Team: Lotto-Soudal

Age: 24

GT Experience: 54th 2014 Giro

What to expect in a sentence: Very classy rider, winner of the Eneco Tour and 4th in Lombardy last season, he will be giving freedom because the team don’t have a GC threat.

Eduardo Sepulveda

Country: Argentina

Team; Bretagne Seche Environment

Age: 24

GT Experience: None

What to expect in a sentence: Missed out on his debut Tour last year with illness, he should be the protected GC rider for this small French team.

Wilco Kelderman

Country: Netherlands

Team: LottoNL-Jumbo

Age: 24

GT Experience: 17th 2013 Giro, 7th 2014 Giro, 14th 2014 Vuelta

What to expect in a sentence: The current Dutch time trial champion, LottoNL-Jumbo have a woeful record so far this season and it will be interesting to see who they support for the overall.

Marco Haller

Marco has already tasted overall success at the Tour des Fjords
this year.

Country: Austria

Team: Katusha

Age: 24

GT Experience: None

What to expect in a sentence: He has been on remarkable form in the last few months and capped it off by winning the National championships, the first week suits him best.

Warren Barguil

Country: France

Team: Giant-Alpecin

Age: 23

GT Experience: 38th 2013 Vuelta, 8th 2014 Vuelta

What to expect in a sentence: There’s huge pressure on the Frenchman’s shoulders, he has been talked up as the next Tour de France winner from France but he’s had an indifferent season so far, don’t write him off.

Kenneth Vanbilsen

Country: Belgium

Team: Cofidis

Age: 25

GT Experience: None

What to expect in a sentence: There’s not a huge amount to recommend Vanbilsen, he has got a decent sprint on him so maybe he will be used in Bouhanni’s leadout.

Angelo Tulik

Country: France

Team: Europcar

Age: 24

GT Experience: 123rd 2014 Giro

What to expect in a sentence: Slots nicely into Europcar’s Tour strategy, which is to get into breakaways and hope that one of them stays away until the end of the stage.

Luke Rowe

Country: Great Britain

Team: Sky

Age: 25

GT Experience: DNF 2013 Vuelta, 141st 2014 Vuelta

What to expect in a sentence: The Welshman is purely there to guide Froome through the difficult, classic’s style opening stages, he’ll then be there to do the early pace setting later on.

Georg Priedler

Country: Austria

Team: Giant-Alpecin

Age: 25

GT Experience: 36th 2013 Vuelta, 27th 2014 Giro

What to expect in a sentence: The newly crowned Austrian time trial champion is a very handy climber and should be used in support of Barguil.

Matthews is a prolific winner at the Vuelta and Giro

Michael Matthews

Country: Australia

Team: Orica-GreenEDGE

Age: 25

GT Experience: 110th 2013 Vuelta, DNF 2014 Giro, 7th 2014 Vuelta, DNF 2015 Giro

What to expect in a sentence: Amazingly Matthews is yet to start the Tour but he’s won 5 stages in the Giro and Vuelta combined and he is one of the favourites for the green jersey.

Sam Bennett

Country: Ireland

Team: Bora-Argon 18

Age: 24

GT Experience: None

What to expect in a sentence: Bennett is an incredible sprinting talent but it’s probably a little too early in his career to expect a stage win, he goes very well in the wind so he might be able to get some podium places in the opening week.