Q&A Brian Holm
The Deceuninck-quickstep directeur sportif tells Cyclist about the dangers of pro riding, the lack of personalities in the sport and his special relationship with Mark Cavendish
Cyclist: You were there the day [Quickstep sprinter] Fabio Jakobsen experienced his horror crash at last year’s Tour of Poland. How did you feel?
Brian Holm: When I saw Fabio crash, I thought we wouldn’t see him again. I was there in the team car and it was a madhouse. It was like a bomb exploding.
All evening we had nothing to say to the riders because we didn’t know what the situation was. Then at midnight we heard from the hospital that he would survive, but we didn’t know the extent of his injuries. Then the hospital established he wasn’t brain damaged.
Since the crash I’ve spoken to him a bit but not too much. He needs his space and time to adjust. To see him riding a bike again though, wanting to race, it’s remarkable.
Cyc: Has the UCI taken enough responsibility for the incident?
BH: I never liked that sprint in Katowice. It’s a downhill bunch finish at 90kmh.
I’d previously emailed the UCI about that stage finish and how it was wrong. I said we should go from the other direction, uphill. I kept saying one day there would be a big accident, but it was business as usual for the UCI. I sometimes wonder what are they doing. They banned Dylan Groenewegen for nine months over the crash. Yeah, he made a mistake but we need to take care of him. Shit happens in a bunch sprint but we didn’t treat him well after the incident. He was punished enough seeing what had happened.
Cyc: Do you think racing is more dangerous now than it was when you were a pro?
BH: I have no doubt. They’re going faster, there’s more road furniture, more obstacles. The team radios make the riders more stressed and the peloton more nervous. So we not only see more crashes but harder crashes.
You only start thinking about crashes when you turn 35, have a wife, some kids, then it changes you. When you’re young, alone, single, you’re the master of the universe. But when you settle down you start to rethink it all. Dirk Demol once told me the perfect rider lives at home with his mother and father until he’s 36 years old, then he quits cycling and becomes a normal person.
Also every day is hard now. In my day if there was a 200km stage we’d soft-tap until we saw the television helicopter above us. That’s when we’d start racing. We’d go so slowly in the
‘The days of the supermen, Lance Armstrong, they’ve gone. There are no drugs so the level is more equal and it’s more exciting’
first 150km it was boring. I did the Tour of Holland once in the 1980s and they took away our prize money because we averaged less than 25kmh. It was raining and we all just decided to wait under a bridge until it stopped, in the middle of the race!
Cyc: So you wouldn’t swap being a pro now for when you were racing in the 1990s?
BH: I turned pro in 1986 and retired in 1998. That was the worst period in the history of cycling, with EPO, the cheating, it was a nightmare. You could be the biggest talent in the world during that time but if you weren’t doing drugs you could forget about winning. Cycling is better now. The days of the supermen, Lance Armstrong, they’ve gone. There are no drugs so the level is more equal and it’s more exciting.
Cyc: And even the team that was often blamed for boring racing, Ineos Grenadiers, has become fun to watch.
BH: Just look at Tao Geoghegan Hart at the Giro d’italia. Ineos lose Geraint Thomas, reinvent themselves and then have the most successful Grand Tour ever. If Thomas hadn’t crashed, we wouldn’t have seen Tao as we did, or Pippo Ganna shine, they’d just have ridden like they always did. And who knows, Thomas may not have even won.
I saw Dave Brailsford at the Vuelta. He told me about how the team is going to change and be more exciting going forward. He wants his riders to be like movie stars now – attacking, being inspirational. I think he means it, but with Brailsford you never really know.
Cyc: Does professional cycling today lack those ‘movie stars’ Brailsford mentioned?
BH: The days of having big characters in the sport, like Lance or Bernard Hinault, are done. Everyone looks the same now. You cannot be an individual. You cannot have an opinion. Look back – Laurent Fignon had a ponytail! He won the Tour de France in a set of Cartier reading glasses. Love him or hate him, someone like Armstrong was a character. He had the Hollywood touch; you couldn’t accuse him of being boring. The last superstar of cycling was Bradley Wiggins.
Cyc: What are your thoughts on getting to work with Mark Cavendish again at Quickstep this year?
BH: I remember when Cavendish was first with me at Quickstep. Stage 13 of the 2013 Giro d’italia, it was a long 250km day that didn’t really suit Mark. Halfway through the day, I tell the team to ride for him. He says no. I say, ‘Shut up and ride.’ Mark was angry, yelling at me like a little piggy all day. But when he puts his mind to it he can do incredible things and he won that stage.
Later that night, he walks into the hotel and walks straight past me. He doesn’t say a word. Half an hour later I go to his room to congratulate him. He tells me to get the fuck out of his room and that we shouldn’t have ridden that day. Then his now-wife, Peta, rings me to tell me Mark has uninvited me from their wedding, even though I’m the best man. We didn’t talk that night and then the next morning he comes up to me as if nothing has happened. My relationship with him is special. He’s like my son.
Cyc: How has lockdown been for you?
BH: Those first three months of lockdown last year were the best three months of my life. I’ve been busy for the last 10 years but I suddenly had some time to myself. I caught up with life. I was riding three to four times a week with the kids and loving it. I lost some weight too. It made me feel good.