The team also really liked their work. This allowed Tom Paquot to sign a contract extension (until 2026) at the beginning of September. “My job has been appreciated because I always give 100% for the team, without holding back. I have often been thanked for my work and that motivates me even more. Protecting the leader is a responsibility that I 'appreciate and a role that is close to my heart'specifies one of the two Walloons in the Walloon team (with Laurenz Rex).
Before diving into the 2025 season, the Braivois played the challenge that we offered him: summarizing his 2024 season through anecdotes. Monologue.
“In Australia, I forgot that the steering wheel of the car was on the right”
“This year, I discovered Australia in January. I went there for three weeks with the team, for the start of the season races, including the Tour Down Under and a few one-day races. C It was the first time I went there and I discovered another world, a mentality really different from Europe. At home, we sometimes tend to diminish others to put ourselves on a pedestal. -low, not at all. Congratulations. I find it very cool. The ten hours difference with Belgium also allows us to disconnect and fully experience the human experience. With the staff and my teammates, we had an excellent time. (Girmay) achieved several podiums and won the Surf Coast Classic. This further boosted the atmosphere. On the other hand, there is one thing you have to get used to: we drive on the left in Australia. Consequently, the steering wheel is on the right and the team mechanic is installed on the left and not on the right like with us. I learned this the hard way during a puncture at the end of the first stage of the Tour Down Under. I raised my hand but the car didn't see me! So, I shouted into the earpiece, in a frightened voice, to indicate that I had been overtaken. I had to run to find the car which was stopped 400 meters away. Everyone trolled me about it for several weeks.”
“A camera on me after my stupid fall in Milan – San Remo”
“I participated for the first time in my career in Milan-Sanremo: a crazy experience. It's not every day that you compete in a 300 km race. My role was to protect Bini and that worked out. went really well. Before Capo Berta, 40 km from the finish, my job was completely done. But when I saw Georg Zimmerman in a bad position when he let me go down, I said to myself that I had to go. 'was going to do one last effort by pulling it up Fortunately, he didn't follow me because I came up like a fool. (sic) and a guy in front of me slammed on the brakes. I touched his wheel and fell, all alone. I lacked lucidity. When I get up again, I see the motorcycle with the camera fixing its lens on me. I said to myself: oh but no! I finished the race freewheeling but with a nice pizza on my butt.”
“My hands were frozen and I couldn’t brake”
“The Flèche Wallonne is a race that I look forward to every year, as a regional participant of the stage. But, this year, it was meteorological chaos, with these hailstones and the very, very cool temperatures. Everything was going well. good for me until this snow storm, before the first climb of the Mur de Huy There, things got bad and the peloton was in single file, with a runner every ten meters. I have my character; so, I wanted to continue. And I had a stupid idea: to climb the Wall anyway, but I was already given up; when I got to the top, I saw it. guys lying under a tree, with their hands between their thighs. They were freezing. I had never seen that with Loïc Vliegen. (Bingoal WB)we said to ourselves that it was no longer possible and we turned around. We went back down the main road parallel to the Wall. We were going 60 miles an hour when I realized that… I couldn't feel my hands anymore. I couldn't brake anymore. I had to help myself with my forearms, while lying down on my bike, to avoid a big bowl. And when I got on the bus, everyone was hypothermic. I had to put Lilian Calmejane fully clothed in the shower because he couldn't move. It was scary.”
Flèche Wallonne: Stephen Williams wins a Dantesque edition, Van Gils ranks 3rd (VIDEO)
“And shit, I’m in the break…”
“During the Tour of the Basque Country, I made my only escape of the season. It was anecdotal, even if I was virtually leader of the general classification. (laughs) We had free reign that day and we tried to represent the team up front, following the shots. The goal was to end up in a group of seven or eight. But after following a shot, I turned around and saw that the peloton was blocking me. And then I said to myself: what the hell, there are only three of us. I wondered what I had gotten myself into but it was too late. Three of us, with the wind in our face, it was a lost effort. It was a lot of effort for not much, although it's always nice to spend a day up front.”
“Limp runners and blood in the ditch…”
“The day after my escape was the day of the famous fall, with Vingegaard and Evenepoel. I had bad legs and I remember letting go 500 meters from the top of the Col d'Olaeta. And, on the descent, I see all the cars parked on the right of the road I say to myself that it's weird and, as I pass the famous bend: carnage I see inert guys in the ditch. blood; I hear screams on the buses, everyone was silent and heads down… except in our team since Louis. (Meinjes) had won the stage. But we obviously played it low profile because it was secondary. With hindsight, I said to myself that we really need to weigh up the risks. There were races where I felt like I was taking part in the grand prize of the last one to brake. This won't happen every time and this fall is proof of that.”
Huge fall on the Tour of the Basque Country: abandonment of Evenepoel, Roglic and Vingegaard who was evacuated on a stretcher (VIDEO)
“I lost five kilos in six days on the Vuelta”
“2024 was the year of my first big tour: the Vuelta. A great moment. The start in Portugal was really great and the Spanish public is always hot. But, in terms of travel, it's a disaster. All the days, we had two hours to go to departure and two hours to return to the hotel after arrival. We frequently ate at 10 p.m. in the evening, this marked me. sometimes took the start of the stages at… 2 p.m. We were relaxed in the morning and, in the evening, it was a rush. I unfortunately had to give up on the morning of the sixteenth stage, after three days without being able to eat, following food poisoning. what came in came right out… I was really weak. On the rest day, I had a fever and we decided that it was no longer possible, even though I really didn't want to give up. I had lost five kilos in six days It ended badly but I prefer to remember the excellent feelings I had at the start of the event. I really felt like I was reaching a milestone.”
“Roglic has a sense of humor all his own”
“The 2024 season was marked by quite a few great encounters in the peloton. I was often in the same races as Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek)with whom I sympathized. We didn't know each other at all but we got to know each other in the Basque Country and then we saw each other again in Dauphiné. Every time, he says hello to me. On the Vuelta, we were often with the same group. I surprised myself speaking in Dutch with an Italian, Edoardo Affini (Visma | Lease a Bike). He speaks perfectly (smile). I also discovered Jasha Sütterlin (Bahrain – Victorious)who is a great gruppetto leader. He has deadlines in his head. Talking with him, or with guys on my team like Boy Van Poppel, who is retiring this year, I learn a lot. They are road captains, experienced guys. They are very respected and that inspires me. I would like to base my career on theirs in the future. Among the big names, Primoz Roglic is the nicest. He is friends with Rein Tarramaë and he sometimes came to chat with us. I remember seeing him come and stand beside us just to say that it was hard today (laughs). He's a special guy, with his own sense of humor. But, it’s his way of being and we appreciate him that way.”
Roglic has not buried his dream of winning the Tour de France but he hopes that “Pogacar will not continue to improve”
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