This article was produced in association with MAAP
There’s no place like Flanders. In the bike racing world, this region of Belgian is the cycling heartland, it holds an ethereal, mythical quality. The things that happen in Flanders don’t happen anywhere else in the season – the cobbles, the mud and the rain evokes a sense of chaos and carnage that isn’t really replicated in any other sporting arena. That’s part of what makes it so enthralling: for fans, the races are always a spectacle. For riders, it can make or break them.
For a team like Lifeplus-Wahoo, who start the Tour of Flanders as the unapologetic underdogs, the challenge can be to simply make it to the finish of such a gruelling event. As a Continental team with a lower budget, the British outfit has to dream big as they go up against the likes of Lotte Kopecky or Demi Vollering to try and get a result. Lifeplus-Wahoo’s sports director and former professional rider, Gosia Jasinska, explains that motivating the riders is crucial ahead of De Ronde.
“The day before the race, I put a YouTube video up of the race I did in Flanders when I finished in sixth place. I explained that while they see a good result, before that I had done five Flanders and I never did a good result,” Jasinska explains. “But every time I raced I was fighting and gave my 110% effort. I said to the riders that I didn’t know what their 110% would be tomorrow but I know they could give it. Cycling is so strange but beautiful. Maybe today you don’t feel good but everything can change tomorrow.
“I try to make it so when they put the numbers on they don't think about the big names like Vollering, Kopecky and Niewiadoma. They have to remember that they are the same human and they don’t need to compare with those stars. They put energy in and love this sport, I always say they should enjoy every second. If I could go back ten years ago, I would take the opportunity because I know what beautiful days they were.”
Lifeplus-Wahoo’s YouTube series, Made This, documented the team’s experiences on the bergs and cobbles this year in granular detail. From the scary fight for position, to the rain which makes surfaces treacherous and slick, to being forced to walk up the Koppenberg, the race was filled with drama and difficulties. In the end, due to illness, fatigue and some serious bad luck, less than half of the peloton made it to the finish line of the Tour of Flanders this year. Unfortunately for Lifeplus-Wahoo, none of their riders did.
“Always we have a briefing after the race and I ask the girls for three good things about themselves in the race,” Jasinska explains. “It is really important that we always take the positive things after the race. We’ll look ahead to the next races and move on. In the end, I say everything happens for a reason and we go ok, it’s done, and we see what was good and bad and we start a new day.”
Even though the team’s own race didn’t go as planned in De Ronde, the Made This episode shows scenes of Lifeplus-Wahoo standing in their team campervan watching the finish of the race together on an iPad afterwards. Jasinska and her team cheer on Elisa Longo Borghini as she sprints to victory, and there’s a sense that Lifeplus-Wahoo is about something bigger than just race results.
Regardless of their own performances, these are a group of women passionate about the sport they are involved in which means more than any number on ProCyclingStats ever could. As Longo-Borghini crosses the finish line with her arms in the air on the screen, Jasinska says to the gaggle of riders who whoop and cheer: “And one day, it will be one of you.”
Watch ‘Made This’ Episode Two: Prepared for anything, on YouTube now
