Q&A with Team Spidertech p/b C10

Canadian continental professional Team Spidertech p/b C10 had an encouraging European debut Saturday with Ryan Anderson’s 13th place finish at the Trofeo Laigueglia in Italy.

Assistant directeur sportif Kevin Field took the time to answer some questions from the team’s base near Carcassonne in the south of France.

Spidertech’s next competition, the Giro di Sardegna, starts Tuesday. Team director Steve Bauer has already headed to the Mediterranean island with staff and Francois Parisien, Will Routley and Lucas Euser.

Q. What’s your verdict on the team’s first European outing at the Trofeo Laigueglia? Who were the outstanding performers and what were the highlights?

A. We are satisfied overall and really happy to see how Ryan is riding. We put no pressure on the guys at all. It was our first race and most of the other teams have 5+ days of racing. So this race was about blowing out the cobwebs, and getting the racing rhythm back.

The highlights of course was seeing how well Ryan A was riding. You can’t fake it on the climbs we saw yesterday. And then getting 3rd in the bunch kick behind the break was a great indicator of where Ryan’s form and capacities are. He’s a pretty complete rider

It was impressive to see how strong Liqigas was in the race.

Q. What do the guys need to work on in order to meet the team’s goals for this trip?

A. Physically there isn’t too much the guys need to change. Everything looks good so far. We are interested to see how things develop during Sardegna. We haven’t raced enough yet to see if there is anything we should adapt, change

The biggest thing we need to work on is stronger communication in the races. The races are all new for us, and without radios [because of the UCI ban] it is hard to communicate in the race. Not just car to riders, but riders to riders. So the guys need to work most on riding tight together in the bunch – as a unit. And they need to be sure they always have a guy racing right at the front to see the action happening and to relay info back into the team.

Q. What are the highlights of being back racing in Europe?

A. Everyone is excited to be racing here. The style of racing is more dynamic and the courses are technical and challenging. It was a blast to be in the car with Steve yesterday. A lot of the roads were coming back to him as we drove the course. Steve rode Laigueglia a couple of times and many of the coastal roads are the same as Milan San-Remo.

There is just a different flow to the racing here because of the narrow, winding, hilly, roads and it makes the racing much more fun. At the end of the day racing is still fun for the guys, and the more fun it is, the easier it is to stay motivated week in week out.

Q. Did Steve come across any friends or colleagues from his days as a pro in Europe?

A. Yes. Steve bumped into his old Motorola team mate Max Sciandri who is now working with BMC.  Max had been working with the British Federation setting up and managing a training base in Lucca where he lives. But over the winter he flipped over to work with BMC where Max and Steve’s old DS Jim ‘Och’ Ochowicz is now the managing director.

Q. What’s the the next major objective for the boys while in Europe?

A. The giro Sardegna starts Tuesday for : Lucas [Euser], Frank [Francois Parisien], Will [Routley], Svein [Tuft], Pat [McCarty], Keven [Lacombe], Martin [Gilbert] and David [Boily]. While Kev [Field] takes: Simon [Lambert-Lemay], Hugo [Houle], Mark [Batty], Andrew [Randell], Ryan [Roth], Bruno [Langlois] and Flavio [de Luna] to the Boucles du Sud Ardeche. After these races we head up to Belgium to do GP le Samyn and the 3 days of West Flanders.

The 3 Days of West Flanders is a definitely a target race for the team. The race starts with a 7km prologue TT where Svein really hopes to do well. And we are anxious to see how the guys are riding in the bunch finishes after 6 days of racing in Sardegna. We hope our fast men (Martin + Keven) are up there in Flanders.