Sea Otter dispatch: Raphaël Gagné feeling relaxed ahead of Rio

Raphaël Gagné had a successful run of results in 2015. The Québec City native seemingly won every race he entered. Taking the overall title at the US Cup race series, winning the cross-country mountain bike race at the Pan Am Games, and national titles in both XC and cyclocross. In 2016, he already has a win at the Kenda Cup West in Fontana City, California, to his name on April 2 and a second place Bonelli the week after.

Canadian Cycling Magazine caught up with Gagné at the Sea Otter Classics and talked about joining his new team, the Cannondale 360 Fly and the upcoming Rio Olympics.

Now thats a weird photo. Did it all one legged ?. ? @pbcreative pic.twitter.com/oWHPN6rJjD

— Raphael Gagné (@raphaelgagne) April 14, 2016

CCM: How has the transition to the new team been for you?

Raphaël Gagné: Very smooth. Everything from this team, I feel is a bonus and I have more support. Everyone was asking me how I feel on a Cannondale Lefty, it’s been very smooth, those are world class bikes and it didn’t take me long to get some good results on them.

So even though it’s gone really smooth, what’s the hardest thing about switching teams?

Maybe some people can get anxious with a new environment but for me in this case, I don’t see any downside. It really depends on the individual situation and with this new team, everything has been more support than I am used to. Just as an example, I had my bike before the contract was signed, so Cannondale has been very easy to work with. I really felt like Cannondale wanted to make it happen and I did too. It’s a very good fit and I am very happy to be on board.

It’s an Olympic year, no doubt Rio is on your mind, what do you hope to do there?

In terms of the Olympics, I still have to qualify and for the men’s team, we still have to work together since we are not guaranteed to have two spots on the start line. Right now we have two but it’ is not yet certain, so we are all chasing points in the US Cup and World Cup races. We have one more US Cup and three more World Cup races that will count towards the nation ranking for the Olympics. For the team, the results from the first three World Cups in Australia, Germany and France will count towards selection. Basically, I need to get top 12 in these races but all the World Cups from last year count as well. I had a good World Cup season last year, so it puts me in a good position, but I don’t take anything for granted. Selection races or not, I want to do well at those World Cups at the beginning of the season because I love racing and they are important races.

How do the Olympics affect how you approach and schedule your training for the year?

My first priority is the Olympics but I don’t want to put all my eggs in the same basket. For sure I want to be selected and if I am selected then I I will switch to full on Olympic mode. I also want to do well in the US Cups and the World Cups so I don’t put all my focus on the Olympics. I believe this is a very good approach because if you stress about something that only happens once every four years, you’d probably get over-stressed and that is when people tend to make mistakes or over train. I am confidant that my approach to it is good and healthy. This way I can keep being super motivated and keep having fun.

You had very successful season last year, how does that affect your expectations for this year?

Well, I know what I can do, what I have done, so it gives me added confidence. At the same time, there are people that expect me to perform and I am fine with it. Going into this year – even though I won two US Cups last year and I won the overall series – I think any podium, any top 3, top 5 is a very decent result and they are good to accumulate international points. So far this season I have a win and a second place last week, so it’s started very well. In terms of World Cups, last year I was aiming top-15, top-20. Maybe this year I look more for top-15, top-10.

You brought up last weekend (US Cup in Bonelli, where Gagne finished a very close second), which was an very hard fought, very exciting race. When you have a race like that, what do you take away from that? What do you walk away thinking?

I think about what I can learn from a race like that: so fighting hard, strategy and saving a bit in the tank. At the same time you don’t want to save yourself too much and you have got to empty yourself at some point in a race, when you are with someone that’s very strong, which I did at Bonelli. In the end it didn’t work out, but no regrets, I tried my best. Every race is good training, not only physically but technically as well. Last weekend we had world class conditions, slippery and challenging, so that’s good. Also mentally, how’s your mind game, how will you try to get the best from yourself and beat your opponent.