First day in the office 🏢: Luke Rowe rolls out with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale 🏴
Ineos are just one team in 'a whole peloton of teams now' Welshman says as he starts his new DS role at Etoile de Bessèges
Hi Subscribers,
The peloton has just rolled out for stage 1 of the Etoile de Bessèges, and this morning was full-on and super busy. Just like it should be at a race.
We have an interview with Luke Rowe below, and we spoke to Josh Tarling, Maxim Van Gils, his mechanic, regarding the rider’s new Specialized set-up, and 84-year-old Gianni Marcarini, who won Ouest France-Plouay in 1970. His story is truly amazing.
For now, here’s Rowe, and I’ll probably have Tarling later this afternoon.
PS. If you’re a new subscriber, you can listen to a number of my audio file interviews from the race in the Founding Members’ WhatsApp group. To sign up for that, simply become a Founding Member from scratch or upgrade your account by heading to the settings page of your profile or the link below.
Thanks
Daniel 🫶
We often spend the first few weeks of the season getting used to riders in new kits, especially after they’ve changed teams over the winter. Think Simon Yates in Visma yellow or Demi Vollering in FDJ SUEZ blue. It takes a while for everything to register.
But spare a thought for those of us who have to get used to seeing riders change teams and then become staff in just a few weeks. Do you remember how weird it was seeing your teachers outside of school? It’s a bit like that.
Luke Rowe, for example, hung up his wheels at the end of 2024 after a long and distinguished career at Ineos Grenadiers, but on stage 1 of Etoile de Bessèges the former rider was decked out in Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale casuals as he stood outside the French team’s bus in the centre of Bellegarde.
The Ineos Grenadiers bus sat no more than 50 yards away but reminiscing and nostalgia don’t win bike races, and Rowe was only excited to be getting behind the wheel as a sports director with his new team.