Friday, April 26, 2024

Tag: Team Managers

Bas Tietema – “Continental level is not our final destination”

There are many ways to become a professional cyclist, but Dutchman Bas Tietema must be unique in his path; come up through the ranks, start a YouTube channel, get a contract with a Belgian Conti team, then start your own team. We had to find out more.

Colin Sturgess – “My focus? Getting those Ribble Weldtite hands in the air!”

It’s fair to say that Colin Sturgess is a man who knows a wee bit about bike racing and in a world of ‘knee jerk reactions’ and internet ‘Trolls’ whose vision recognises no shade of grey, he provides considered, common sense judgement on the cycling issues of the day.

Keith Lambert – Part Two; Team Management

A DS on the British race scene in the 80’s and 90’s? Easy life – cool team padded jacket, smart team car to drive, the soigneur prepares your packed lunch every day whilst the sponsors are throwing money at you... Well, maybe that last bit needs clarifying; Keith Lambert seemed like a good man to ask.

Wilfried Peeters – Deceuninck DS is a True Flandrien!

It must be the water in Mol in the Province of Antwerp, Belgium; not only is it Tom Boonen’s home town, it’s also the home town of the man who was in the team car behind him for so many of the ‘Tornado’s’ triumphs; Wilfried Peeters, sport director with the Deceuninck ‘Wolf Pack’ was a ‘Man of the Northern Classics’ in his own right.

Rudy Pevenage – “They should have sent half of the peloton home”

Rudy Pevenage was the man behind Jan Ulrich and guided him to a Tour de France win and many other successes, but let's not forget he was a top rider in his own Pro career. Not much has been heard of the man from Moerbeke recently, so we looked him up on one of our visits to Belgium for the Omloop...

At Random

Callum Finlayson – Five Years from Stroke to Scottish Champion

It's not everyday we get emails from Time Trial Royalty, so when BBAR and 100 mile time trial legend Ian Cammish tells us; "Hi, just been involved in a brief exchange of emails with a guy from Moray Firth CC - Callum Finlayson. He's just won the Scottish 100 champs with the 2nd fastest time EVER in Scotland. Got a pretty good story to tell too ... suffered a Stroke a few years ago!"

Adam Duggleby – the new 12 Hour National Competition Record Holder

Here at VeloVeritas we still get excited about competition records so it’s only proper then that we should ‘have a word’ with 33 year-old Adam Duggleby (Vive le Velo), who recently in the Farnborough & Camberley CC National 12 Hour Championship in Hampshire recorded 322 miles (the official distance not yet available), adding around four miles to Andy Wilkinson’s (Port Sunlight Wheelers) 2012 record of 317.97.

Gent Six Day 2014 – One of the ‘Straightest’ Sixes We’ve Seen

I remember once, after the last chase in a Six Day I asked Dirk, our Belgian mechanic; ‘was that finale ‘straight’ Dirk?' He fixed me with a patient stare, much as a good parent would do after their child has said something silly, ‘have you ever seen a ‘straight’ Six Day, Ed?’ I took his point, they’re all pretty much choreographed – but like I keep saying, you have to be able to take laps out of a string riding at 52-53 kph to win. But I reckon that on Sunday evening I did see a straight finale.

Roadside at the 2017 Tour; Maciej Bodnar and the Notre Dame des Cyclistes chapel!

Sprinter stages - they almost have you feeling sorry for Carlton. When we settled down in our mini-market/café with it's big screen and fridge full of cool beer we were quite prepared to sit and wait on Kittel obliterating everyone again after the usual boring run-in. But Big Bora Pole, Maciej Bodnar, AKA 'The Bison' - in his Cannondale days he had a great Polish bison air brush job on his top tube - had other ideas; jumping his doomed breakaway companions and heading off on a solo epic which only ended in sight of the line...

Gordon McCauley – Cycling Legend

Kiwi, Gordon McCauley has been a round ‘since grass’ and has raced just about everywhere there is to race and seen just about everything there is to see in pro bike racing. At 41 the man from the land of the long white cloud is still racing and winning – it was Vik who gave us the push to get hold of Gordon – we're glad he did. We recently took a wander through his career with him – here’s what he had to say

The VV View: Team Sky’s ‘Marginal Gains’ – Worthwhile, or Simply Hype?

It's great to see cycling breaking mainstream - a double page colour spread in the Times discussing Marginal Gains... it's almost as if the guy that bankrolls the team, owns the newspaper. He does? Oh!