Cycling Safari

Cathy: I’d like to talk about Popo (Yaroslav Popovych) a little bit. You told me two years ago that you felt in a few years he could be a Grand Tour winner and that you were going to take your time with him to get him into that position. How do you feel that plan is going and is it still your position that he can be a GT winner?

Johan: Yeah, yeah, I think so. His first year with us he did a very good Tour de France, helped Lance a lot, won the White Jersey (Best Young Rider). Last season was a difficult season for him. He still showed flashes of his potential, but the consistency that I expected to be there was not there. We still haven’t found out if there was something physically or mentally or a combination of both that held him back. He definitely was below his level for the whole season.

Sometimes that’s what happens. He came to Discovery his first year with a lot of hopes on him and we expected a lot from him and he delivered. The second year where you have to confirm your position, it might be unconscious on his part, but maybe he put even more pressure on himself with Lance gone, as if all of a sudden he was the guy that had to do it. But I believe in him as an athlete. He’s a guy who has adapted very well and I expect that this year will be another good year for him.

Cathy: It’s the start of a new season again and this always brings us to hopes for George at Paris-Roubaix. Are the ambitions to win there adopted by the team because they are George’s goals or because the race is also important to you?

Johan: No, no, Paris-Roubaix is the most important Classic for us. I think we have a guy in George who can win it. One day he has to win it! Personally I think last year he would have won it, but if this and if that doesn’t count in sports. But he’s always in the final and he just needs a little luck. This year is going to be an important race for him and for the team.

Cathy: I want to talk about last year’s plan going into the Tour de France where you didn’t really designate a leader but rather spread the duties among a few riders. If you could go back and do that over again, would you have named someone, anyone, even if you didn’t think they could pull it off?

Johan: No, no, I think we took the right approach and if I would have designated George or Popo as a leader I don’t think it would have changed anything. They just were not there. They tried and we saw that it is not so easy to be a leader. I wouldn’t have changed anything.

Cathy: It was interesting to watch the Tour this year with the lead changing so many times and to then watch those teams having to deal with the responsibilities that come with leadership. You’ve dealt with those issues for many years! I think it was eye-opening to many since there have been so few leaders in these past seven years.

Johan: Yeah, it’s also that during seven years the teams were used to a certain strategy and the Tour was easy for everybody else. Lance was the leader and he was the strongest guy. They were waiting until he had a bad day and then they could try to win. Otherwise the guy that stayed close to him could get second. Now things have changed.

Cathy: Now you have a Tour favorite in Ivan Basso on the team again. It’s been talked about a lot that you’ve had your eye on him for years and tried to sign him several times before this. Did you have any hesitation in signing him once he was cleared by the Italian federation?

Johan: Well, this was a little different because we had this whole Operacion Puerto situation, mess. But after certain things happened he was cleared by his federation. I’ve wanted him on our team already for two or three years. After Lance he is the best rider. The fact that our team was missing a big leader was a reason we needed to go after somebody. It took a little more time to get things cleared up so we could do this. We had to do our own research into this, especially after the Italian federation said there was no proof against him. Then it was an immediate decision for us. It was a decision not everyone was happy about.

Cathy: Were you surprised at the reaction you got from the directors and the public?

Johan: No, no, I was not. The public has been great. The people love stars and idols and that’s the only thing that can help the sport maintain its popularity. People need idols and so for us he was a logical choice. I expected the reactions we got from some other people. I think we made the right decision for us and on top of that we didn’t do anything wrong. We played the game and followed the rules of that game. And he absolutely wanted to come here. He contacted me two times before when he was with another team that he absolutely wanted to come here. So the relationship was there already.

Cathy: Is the situation with the other directors all smoothed over now?

Johan: It’s better. I went to a meeting to explain my position. When we were in Austin (in December) there was a meeting where certain people wanted to take measures against us. But I went to a meeting and explained my point of view. You always have to hear both sides of the situation to make a decision. Maybe not everybody agrees with it, but at least they listened to my point of view.

Cathy: For awhile there when the directors took the vote against Discovery, it seemed like they would try to keep the team out of particular races. Is this still the case, that if Ivan races the team might not be welcome?

Johan: I have no news about that at all. All I know is that Ivan is on our team and we are a Pro Tour team, so the Pro Tour should expect us to bring our best team to the races.

Cathy: Do you think that directing Ivan will be a lot like directing Lance?

Johan: I don’t think so. They are both champions but they are very different personalities. What I can feel is that there is a certain comparison in the level of interaction with me. I had a very strong relationship with Lance and we became very close. I became his confidant and sometimes he was mine. I won’t say that it’s the same with Ivan right now because the relationship is too new, but I’m comfortable with the way we can interact. There has to be a very close relationship of trust. I think we have that.

Cathy: Is it confirmed that he will try for the Giro/Tour double? And do you have any hesitation in him attempting this, perhaps at the expense of a win at the Tour?

Johan: Yeah he’s going to go with that and I don’t think we’re taking any risks. Until now he hasn’t won the Tour so we don’t have any guarantees that he can win. I think he can win it. With Lance it was different. Lance was a proven winner. After the first win he got better every year up until the last few years, when he stayed at the same level. We knew if he would be in good condition at the start, no illnesses, no bad luck, no accidents, and the team was strong enough to support him then he would win. With Ivan we don’t know that yet. We’re not going to play everything for the Tour if we don’t know what the outcome is going to be.

Cathy: When you look at Ivan objectively, just looking at the man there, what do you see in him that puts him at a level above other athletes?

Johan: First thing is that he’s very talented. He has been winning races since he started. He’s been World Champion in the Under 23, since he turned Pro he’s had a natural evolution with 3rd place in the Tour, 2nd place in the Tour and hopefully first place in the future. But on top of that he is very professional, maybe one of the most fanatical people I’ve ever seen, and I’ve worked with a fanatic before! He’s very dedicated. And on top of that he has a certain charisma, and that’s something that you just have, you cannot learn it, you cannot buy it.

Cathy: What do you think he’ll learn under your direction that he didn’t learn under Bjarne (Riis) or anyone else he’s raced under?

Johan: I don’t know… I don’t ask how his former teams worked. I think if he can adapt to our way of working (and he will be able to) he’s going to be fine. I just say to him we’re going to do it this way because it works.

Cathy: Who do you see as possible support riders for him for the Tour?

Johan: You’re not going to make me name the Tour team, are you?! (We both laugh) I think the logical guys with the experience will be the key. Levi was going to be our leader before we hired Ivan, and he’s still going to be the co-leader of the team. We don’t have guarantees that Ivan will win it so I think the two of them together will be very strong. So Levi will be there for sure, Popo for sure, George will be there for sure. We still have Chechu and Pavel and Benjamin. We also have Egoi and Paulinho. The experience comes first. But for now I have like twelve or thirteen candidates and hopefully all of those can stay fit until the moment the selection has to be made. I hope I have to make a difficult decision because that means we’re in a good spot.

Cathy: I do want to ask you to name the Tour of California team since that’s coming up soon.

Johan: Okay, the five Americans: George, Tom, Levi, Tony and Jason. Plus Ivan, (Brian) Vandborg and (Tomas) Vaitkus.

Cathy: How about the book you’re writing? “You Might as Well Win” Can you tell me how that came about and what it’s about and how you have the time?!

Johan: The book! Yeah, it’s a long story. It goes back two years ago when I got some requests to speak for certain companies to tell the story about the team, how we work and the key to our success, how we motivate people. It was an interesting request for me but at the time I decided I wouldn’t do it. I was not prepared for it, I didn’t have the time, and if I was going to do it I wanted to do it right from the start. So I started thinking it could be something for the future. It’s not something I was waiting for because I love what I do and I hope to continue doing it for many years. But at the same time it’s something interesting to consider. I said if I would eventually think about it for the future I wanted to have something that people could touch, not only a story.

So I decided the best thing was to write a book. I see that book as my business card. I just started thinking about it and spoke with some people, then I got in touch with Bill Strickland of Bicycling. I had some meetings with him and he said he was interested in working with me. We started to talk and he started to write. The first draft we got together was very good. We looked for an agent and the proposal we put together was very appealing to a number of editors and surprisingly it was sold very quickly. It’s going to be a few months before it will come out, definitely sometime after the Tour. The publisher will decide that. It’s also sold to a Dutch publisher so it’s going to be in other languages, too.