Cycling Safari

One of the unique aspects of training camp is simply available time. Once the day’s ride is over and the bikes are put away, it’s possible to sit down next to the fire and just talk. ThePaceline’s Cathy Mehl took advantage of this opportunity to speak at length with Discovery Channel Sports Manager Johan Bruyneel - enjoy!

Cathy: To start with Johan, can you review last season for us, recapping the highlights and successes and how you feel about last year?

Johan: Well, it was definitely a different year for us from other years, but we kind of expected that of course with Lance gone. The expectations were still high but we found out, mainly at the Tour de France, that we were hoping for too much. But at the end of the year if I look back at the entire year and consider it a transition year we are very satisfied with what we got.

We were major contenders in all the big Classics. In the three week Tours we won a stage in every one and we wore the leader’s jersey in all three. I think (but I am not 100% sure without going to look at statistics) we were the only team last year that did that. There are teams that won stages in all three Tours, but I don’t think they also wore the leader’s jersey. So for a team looking to get its new direction I think this was not bad. At the end of the year we finished 4th in the Team Classification for the UCI. We learned a lot and we’ve definitely made some changes for this year. But overall it’s been a satisfying year. I’m happy with what we’ve accomplished and I’m happy with what we have learned for the future.

Cathy: Many teams would consider it a perfect year if they got the wins you ended up with.

Johan: Yes, yes, I think so. It’s just that our expectations are so high. To come off a seven year victory run at the Tour de France, well it has to stop somewhere. We can never do better than we’ve already done. We can only be as good as we’ve been before and most likely there will be times when we’re just not as good.

Cathy: I thought the press put you on the spot quite often. When I’d hear what your expectations were for the team they seemed realistic, but the press would grab a little part of what you’d said, and turn it into something like “George is going to win the Tour.”

Johan: Yeah, I definitely didn’t want to put our ambitions too low. At the same time I didn’t want like at the Tour de France for all the guys we’d hoped would do well to have problems. I was prepared for that but until it does happen, you have to still have belief and hope. It was okay, I enjoyed the year. There have been a lot of other things that I’ve found satisfaction in.

You see some young guys coming along and doing great. I especially remember the performance of Jani Brajkovic in the Vuelta. In my opinion he was the best climber in the first two mountain stages of the race. It was good to see in a young guy like him. I got a certain satisfaction out of seeing that. It isn’t always about the literal sense of winning, but also the sense of victory to see a young guy in his first full year as a professional in a big stage race and really show that he has a big potential as a stage racer. That is a great feeling too.

Cathy: You signed some new talent to the team this year. In particular I’d like to ask you about Sergio Paulinho and Alberto Contador. Can you tell me what caught your eye about these two?

Johan: They are very different riders. For both of them it’s not the first time I tried to get them. Paulinho: I was in contact with him with a firm offer after he got the silver medal in Athens. But for certain circumstances he was unable to come to the team, but I’ve always been following him. He’s a real work horse, a very strong rider, but he’s also able to finish things off himself sometimes. And Contador, in my opinion, is really the guy for the future. He’s a very talented rider and he’s already shown some flashes of his talent, winning stages in races like the Tour of Switzerland and Tour of Romandy. He’s still young although he’s already been professional three or four years. I think he turned professional before he was twenty years old. He’s a rider I have a lot of hopes in. I hope this year he can be a little more consistent than what he’s shown in the past.

Cathy: You seem to have a good eye for emerging talent. How important do you think the early years of a rider’s career are and how important is the role of the team director in that career?

Johan: It’s important, but you have a lot of times where riders turn professional from the amateurs and it is complicated. Especially now when the competition at the Pro Tour level is so high. You really have to be patient with the young guys. Some of them turn pro and the first year they get destroyed. It’s a matter of not putting the expectations too high at the time. As long as they can show in certain moments that their talent is what you think it is and you give them the time to develop then you are okay. Most of those guys have been champions and they have to be (mentally) prepared that in years one, two and three they will be “Mr. Nobody”. That’s the difficult thing. I think it’s important to be patient, first of all. And that there is a lot of interaction with the directors to make sure they know the team believes in them even if in the beginning things are not going exactly the way they had thought it would.

Cathy: You have some riders here at camp that are in a special program. What’s that about?

Johan: They are on the U.S. National Team. It’s an agreement we made with USA Cycling. John Devine is going pro July 1st and he’s already half on the team. There are three others, Brent Bookwalter, Chris Stockburger and TJ Van Gaderen - three guys that USA Cycling says are the most advanced of their group. We bring them here for different reasons. First to let them see how the team works. Second to let them feel that there is the possibility that they can make a step someday to a Pro Tour team. It’s a good moment to get to know them and we’ll follow their progress throughout the year.

Cathy: Are they are doing the same training as everyone else?

Johan: Yeah, we’ll see how it all goes and adjust. But I think it’s important for other American riders to see these four guys at our training camp. This means that we are looking at them and they might have the possibility for promotion in the future. I hope that they can go back and share good experiences with their team and that it brings up the general ambition of the other American riders.

Cathy: Speaking of young riders, I spoke with Jani about his short time in the gold jersey (at the Vuelta) and asked him if he ever thought in the back of his mind that he could hold on to the jersey for the race, and he said, “Oh, no, I knew I was going to crack!” Did you ever have to sit him down and enlighten him about his chances?

Johan: No, no, he’s very ambitious of course and he tried as hard and as long as he could to hold on to it but it was already a big accomplishment for him to get the jersey. The first day he could defend it, but the second day it was already two weeks into the race and he was tired. I was 100% sure he could not hold on to it. We talked a lot about it and I think he trusts my experience and the experience of the team. But he’s a guy who knows what he wants and what he can do. He’s very ambitious but knows it’s not his moment yet.

Cathy: You lost some riders this year. Were you concerned about having to replace such a large number of riders all at the same time?

Johan: Not really. It wasn’t that we decided to not keep some of those riders, some of those riders decided to go. I think there were some logical decisions being made, when you’ve been with a team six or seven years and the dynamics of the team change you feel your position on the team will change with new leadership, or financial issues come into play - it was logical for some to move on to other environments. I really feel we’ve made some changes for the better and to me the team looks very strong. Right now we’re filling in the race schedules and it’s difficult to make the selection for each race when there are so many strong riders.

Cathy: When you consider a rider for your team, Johan, do you simply look at their abilities as a rider or do you also take into consideration their personality and how they will fit in? Or do you think you can always mold someone into a Discovery Channel rider?

Johan: That’s a very interesting question and a very important aspect of how we hire. If we know before hand that the personality is going to be a problem I probably will not sign them. I’d say probably 70% of the riders we get we know what we’re getting, we know their background and we know they are going to fit in perfectly. Then 30% we know enough to be sure we can adapt them. Sometimes you make a mistake of course; it’s not always possible to know everything about somebody. I have to say most of the time it works out well. We’re not a military regime. We try to be human about everything. But we do have a certain discipline and I have to say it works out well.

Cathy: Are you still the one that is bringing in all of the new talent, or are the other directors involved in this process as well?

Johan: We talk a lot about it, but in general I make the final decision. There are a lot of candidates. For example if you change twelve riders on your team there are maybe one hundred waiting to come on…