Bigham on working with Evenepoel, Balsamo on mental focus and Van Wilder talks about his GC future
Three exclusive interviews crammed into today's bumper newsletter
Hi Subscribers,
Today’s newsletter takes on a slightly different feel as we combine three interviews into one big update.
Coming up we have Daniel Bigham talking about what it’s like to work with Remco Evenepoel and his role at Red Bull, there’s Elisa Balsamo on how she’s focussing more on herself and not her rivals, as well as using a sports psychologist, and we’ve spoken to Ilan Van Wilder about why he signed a contract extension at Soudal Quick-Step and his ambitions in a post-Evenepoel era.
Tomorrow we’ll have an exclusive with Max Poole and, quite possibly, a cycling transfer story.
On another note, I’m heading to the Challenge Mallorca and will be on the ground reporting from our first race of the season. Expect preview content coming soon, followed by exclusive stories and interviews all next week. We’ll also focus on the all-important TTT with Evenepoel and a host of other prominent contenders taking part.
My race schedule is starting to take shape, with a larger block of races at the cobbled Classics planned for this spring. The rest of the spring remains a work in progress, with a few races still to be decided, but once I have firm plans, I’ll share them with you.
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Have a great day!
Daniel 🫶
We’ll start with our interview with Elisa Balsamo, who we sat down with at the Lidl-Trek training camp this winter.
The Italian had a very respectable 2025, winning five races, including Scheldeprijs and Trofeo Alfredo Binda. But the 25-year-old was also on the podium 16 times last season, and while that’s nothing to be sniffed at, it also shows how close she was to having an incredible season. More often than not, Balsamo was beaten by Lorena Wiebes and I wanted to find out how she handled the competition with her main rivals, especially on the mental side of the sport.