Classic Brugge-De Panne: the director's cut ✂️
Talking to several sports directors ahead of Wednesday's men's race, with insight into the race, line-ups and more
Hi Subscribers,
One of my favourite elements of the Spring Classics is the pre-race directors' meetings that take place the afternoon before each race.
They are a relatively standard affair in that the sports directors from each team gather at a certain location, in this case, the town hall in De Panne, have a quick coffee and a chat, and then proceed to a large meeting room to receive a pre-race briefing.
The doors are shut behind them, and then about 45 minutes later, the DSs trickle out, looking like they need a drink stiffer than their previous coffee and carrying the riders’ race numbers and road books for the next day’s event.
I know that doesn’t sound fascinating. Still, if you enjoy the combination of people-watching, cycling, and catching up with sports directors in a less-than-stressful environment, they’re a worthwhile affair.
Today, I managed to grab a few minutes with Fabio Baldato (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Steven de Jongh (Lidl-Trek), Heinrich Haussler (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Arthur van Dongen (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Each director told a different story; each arrived with their team in a different place and with varying degrees of pressure and momentum. Here’s what they had to say.
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Heinrich Haussler (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Daniel Benson: You’re here with Sam Weslford. How’s he going ahead of tomorrow?
Heinrich Haussler: Sam’s going well. He looks good - not that it means anything, but he looks good in the face and lean. He’s super motivated and has a lot of confidence. That’s a really good sign. Tomorrow, with the wind conditions and the weather, it’s not going to be easy - and there’s going to be a lot of stress, especially with all the twists and turns and road furniture. All the guys in the cars will tell the riders to be in position. And if you look at the number of crashes there were last year in the middle or the back of the peloton, you just want to stay out of trouble. Nothing will happen until that last lap when teams fight like crazy for the position. It’ll cause stress. As for Sam, he’s definitely got the numbers. He just has to put them down.
DB: Every year is big, but maybe especially for Sam this season. It’s a contract year; he’s just returning from Australia and UAE, where he had a good start to the season.
HH: One of his big goals was to go to Australia and put some runs on the board. He looks fit, and he looks better. He’s moved to Monaco, where he’s doing more quality training. We’ll see tomorrow how that goes for him.
Steven de Jongh (Lild-Trek)
Daniel Benson: We’re back in Belgium after Milan-San Remo, and back on terrain where you’ve had success already this season.
SDJ: Milan-San is the most difficult race to win. We saw a fucking great race and one of the nicest races from the last few years. It was great to see them fighting for the victory. I enjoyed it.
DB: We saw Mads Pedersen climbing exceptionally well at Paris-Nice, but then I read he was sick just before Milan-San Remo.
SDJ: He was sick for a few days, and this might have taken away some of the sharpness that he had in Paris-Nice. That’s unfortunate, but I think, on the other hand, we can be happy that he was just out for a few days and not a longer time.
DB: What did you learn from Milan-San Remo regarding the level you’ll have to be at regarding Flanders and Roubaix?
SDJ: What we saw already in the last few years is that if you come to a WorldTour race, you need to be your personal best to be up there. And if you’re not at that level, then you can forget about being able to compete for the win. That’s the lesson from the last few years. The level is so high that if you’re coming in without good form, you need a miracle and miracles…
DB: …Don’t happen... But the cobbles have a different beat and a different style of racing. Do they suit you more than what we saw at Milan-San Remo?
SDJ: It fits us better as a team because you have several cards to play. This is the difference with Milan-San Remo. There are so few guys who are competitive there; it’s much harder. Here, you can do more with tactics.