Après une saison couronnée de succès chez les espoirs, avec notamment un titre de Champion du Monde Espoirs du contre-la-montre, va entamer sa première saison chez les Elites avec sa formation Lidl-Trek. Il fait un point sur ses objectifs et ambitions pour l'exercice 2026 lors du Media Day de Lidl-Trek en Espagne ce vendredi 12 décembre. Cyclism'Actu était présent sur place pour recueillir ses propos.
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00:03Je pense que je ne veux pas penser trop à l'arrivée, mais en fin je pense que je veux prendre un peu de responsabilité.
00:14Parce que je suis, à l'instant, le seul ambassadeur que nous avons à ce niveau de la World Tour,
00:20et c'est vraiment un sport pour le moment.
00:26Je pense que c'était plus grand en l'année dernière, mais ça a été un peu forgotten.
00:31Donc j'ai l'impression d'apprendre un peu plus dans les médias,
00:35et essayer de mettre la lumière à l'arrivée,
00:38et d'être à l'arrivée des races que les Français sont liés à regarder.
00:46Je pense que ça signifie beaucoup pour moi, si j'étais en train de construire ce sport.
00:54Je m'envoie beaucoup à l'arrivée.
00:57Et c'est comme vous l'avez dit, il a été plus grand en l'arrivée.
01:01Pourquoi est-ce que ça a été plus grand en l'arrivée ?
01:06C'est toujours difficile de trouver.
01:11Je pense que c'est juste une série de raisons ou des trends.
01:19En fait, en Suède, le truc closest à notre cœur,
01:23quand il y a des sports endurance,
01:26c'est le sport de cross-country.
01:28Et bien sûr, c'est similaire à ce que c'est en Belgique,
01:34où on a toujours toujours toujours vivant,
01:37parce que c'est la histoire.
01:39Je pense que c'était plus grand en avant.
01:44Peut-être parce que les gens étaient heureux d'aller sur la bike,
01:50ou que nous avions des riders sur la scène.
01:57Et c'était une partie de l'arrivée des races.
02:01Nous avions des gens qui ont fait des résultats de ces races.
02:07C'est probablement 40 ans.
02:10L'année dernière, c'était Magnus Bleckstedt,
02:13en Roubaix, bien sûr.
02:15Mais il y a seulement une fois,
02:19il y a quelques fois encore, dans les dernières années.
02:22Et puis, je pense que c'était
02:24de l'avenir des médias et de l'attention.
02:27Parce que maintenant, les gens ne pensent qu'on peut être professionnel.
02:30Je pense qu'il y a beaucoup d'autres scandinaviants.
02:33Dans le team, vous avez des scandinaviants,
02:36dans la forme de danse des gens.
02:38Est-ce que ça en quelque sorte,
02:40vous pouvez vous aider à soutenir les gens ?
02:45Oui, je pense que c'est bien d'avoir les gens autour,
02:49car c'est le plus à la maison que j'aurai dans ce sport.
02:53Et, oui, en Scandinavien,
02:58on sent toujours plus à la haute.
03:03On reconnaît les autres et on a une culture similaire.
03:06Et tout ceci.
03:08Et aussi, le langage est
03:11c'est un peu d'accord pour moi pour apprendre,
03:13en comparé à la plupart des autres langues,
03:14c'est un peu d'anglais.
03:16C'est quelque chose que j'ai essayé de développer,
03:20pour que je puisse me sentir plus à la maison
03:22et partie d'un groupe,
03:24qui ne parle pas de l'anglais.
03:26C'est un peu de ralé,
03:30qui s'est personné,
03:32ce qui se donne un peu de ralé entre vous et les Swedish
03:34etc.
03:36Dans le cycle,
03:39je pense que tout ne nous parlais
03:40d'un côté des ralé,
03:46comme nous n'avons également tous les derniers.
03:48C'est sûr,
03:52que c'est bien de rencontrer un peu.
03:55You were the first Swedish male cyclist to win a world title in any category, how does
04:05that make you feel?
04:06Does it make you feel like a pioneer like the Peterson brothers back in the 70s or Tommy
04:11Brim back in the 80s?
04:13And how much do you know about your country's own history?
04:18Does that play a part in your development career, the way you see cycling?
04:25Or is it just a long gone memory?
04:28Yeah I think for me I wasn't like studying the history of cycling in Sweden like closely.
04:37I came from mountain biking switched quite late when I was 20 and since then the knowledge
04:45of road is also a bit compromised.
04:50But no, it's like the big results or merits that some people have been in Sweden from
05:00earlier days, I've learned them now, most of them.
05:07But I'm really just trying to be my own in everything and I'm not trying to look at it as anything
05:16bigger than it is.
05:18I'm trying to just do my thing really because it's the only thing I really can affect.
05:25and if I'm happy to continue with cycling and think it's exciting then it will probably exceed
05:35and even develop into something even bigger and that's the best way I can contribute to
05:43creating a new wave for the sport really.
05:46Where is that path going to lead to?
05:51You're obviously an amazing time trialist, you do the pave really well, you also are very
05:59competitive in 4-5 days stage races with a certain amount of difficulties.
06:05So when would you like to continue, where is the next champion?
06:10I think I know a lot more about my profile after this season and of course the time trial
06:18will always be there in my career I think as a specialty but today it really sticks out
06:25because I think it was quite natural for me to develop this skill.
06:29coming from mountain bike it's a similar way of thinking about it, it's just a different bike, different challenges
06:35but a similar way of developing the speed and the momentum, everything.
06:43So I found a really good level there but something that I think takes a lot longer is to reach really the best classics rider I can be
06:53because this takes a lot more experience, learning the peloton that you are riding with, learning riders, learning courses, learning conditions and the culture behind it.
07:07Also there are often quite long events which also brings an advantage with having done more miles before and I think really this is the biggest project I will
07:22I will have in my career. I would guess at this point that to try and become the best rider I can be in the classics will probably finish last out of every project I could have in cycling is my guess.
07:36And then with time trials could come good results in GCs, in stage races as you said like one week races even.
07:46And that depends a bit how my body develops and how allowing it is for me to maybe be a bit more slim than I am today.
08:00or like it's many many factors but only time can tell if it's really meant to be.
08:07What's your schedule for next year? What are the races you're going to do?
08:12It's... I don't even have a really definite schedule myself of course it's a lot of talks still because it's so many factors taken into account.
08:26But we are looking a lot towards the classics and trying to get really the best preparation for it.
08:38Probably going to do a couple of stage races before that similar to this season really.
08:44I think it will be more or less a copy of the spring program only we bring it up one step and we don't do the U23 races. We maybe even do the big ones.
08:56Yeah.
08:57The way Matthias Planciak developed himself the last few years is that something you're looking up to?
09:03Of course he's taking really big steps in performance and grown in capacity for every year and really found a way of contributing a lot to the team together with Mars in the Giro for example.
09:19I wouldn't say like... For me I'm always trying to think out of my own and look at my own potential, my own ability to develop.
09:31So I don't... I wouldn't say that I look at riders like that in general.
09:35But of course it's an example of someone that has a lot of ambition and always just keeps going and don't really doubt himself.
09:45Which is really impressive when you have all the light on yourself.
09:50Grand Tour being on your crew galaxy?
09:53Something that we have considered but this is the thing that we are most unsure about in the moment.
10:00It has many many factors and depends on condition when you come closer to it or whatever fits the best with how the preparation should look and what other riders are really fitting for the team going there and so on.
10:15Like we have many riders on a good level at this point and the long list for every Grand Tour is quite big.
10:22So if it's the right moment for me to do my Grand Tour depends on many many other factors of course.
10:29And it's something that we don't rush to take a decision about.
10:34But the chances for John not zero and for John not definitely.
10:40It seems like you have quite a good relationship with Kevin Philipson.
10:47Yeah.
10:48Because you are a similar age sort of and it seems like you do well in the race together.
10:53How is that relationship with him?
10:55Yeah, I got to know him as soon as I joined the team.
11:01Since he was supported already as a junior.
11:04He came to our training camps and really he has been a massive talent since the start.
11:13But for me it was just nice getting to know him because still with almost every younger rider you encounter in this environment you recognize yourself.
11:24And like just from the personality itself and priorities or expectations or nerves or whatever you really recognize yourself in many ways.
11:37And I've always thought it's nice to be around guys like these that are really excited about it also.
11:44To just keep that energy about it also and maybe not the ones that more or less go to work in a state race or whatever.
11:55You have every example in every team I think.
11:59But for me the relationship developed over time and grew like it's probably still growing.
12:07And we are both really happy to see each other succeed.
12:14You also had that 1-2 win in Montpellier under 23.
12:19Do you regret that you didn't get the win or that he got it or is it okay to finish second?
12:28Yeah I know for me it's the perfect scenario really because in the end of the day we really fight for big results.
12:39It's super important for the team sponsors, relationship budgets, future plan.
12:46It's always the goal to succeed and to win.
12:49But in the end for me I really try to think out of the team perspective and we already did the perfect job when we came into the Velodorm.
13:02So I was super proud of everything I contributed to the team.
13:07And if we sprinted again against each other and I managed to win the sprint it wouldn't be any different than winning against him on training day.
13:16I would say. And then it's just what's left after this weekend.
13:23It's only a number. It's only a one or two on a paper.
13:27And it's really the memory that you look back on on Smite about.
13:31And I thought the memory was one of the nicest I have in cycling from this weekend really.
13:39Just showing that we are one team.
13:42And this is something that I'm really proud of being proud of.
13:48You mentioned a bit ago that you transitioned from mountain biking just a couple of years ago.
13:53How did you manage this transition into a time trialist in which the effort is completely constant?
13:59It's the opposite of mountain biking. How did you manage to do that transition so successfully?
14:04I think for me I was always obsessed with trying to become my best mountain biker and cross country rider.
14:15It was only that it wasn't really what fitted me the best.
14:20It was when I jumped on a time trial bike and a road bike that I realized what I'm really built for.
14:26So I cannot tell you anything else than that it was always supernatural for me the type of effort that a time trial is.
14:36Because for me I always was good carrying momentum and going through the start-finish trade on the cross country course.
14:44And just trying to find momentum and rhythm because sharper turns and accelerations and steep climbs aren't really for my body type let's say.
14:54And finding the momentum everywhere was always something I developed through young years.
15:00and that just it took a while before I got really yeah I stumbled upon a time trial bike and competed at the national champs
15:12and realized that this is actually something that I'm probably quite good at.
15:17Probably a lot better than mountain biking even if I worked for developing in that sport for all the years before.
15:27Your mountain biking experience can contribute greatly to your success in races like Roubaix or even with the Stradian I think.
15:34Yeah, for sure. I'm really confident in my bike handling and also just reaction, the vision, looking for like learning the peloton is a different thing.
15:48You have to relearn it or learn it from the beginning but it's not so far from also finding the smoothest line in the forest.
15:57And I think really everything is about being efficient and saving energy and it's just different obstacles on a mountain bike or in a road race.
16:08So I think it's a similar way of cognitive thinking about it only that it's two different challenges or two different languages that you just have to learn a new one in a way.
16:20Two more questions please.
16:22By looking at your resume, your trajectory and also if you allow me to your physique, one would say that Paris Roubaix is of the two cobbled classics the most suited to you.
16:36Yeah.
16:37But then we watch you on races with a certain amount of gain like Cometa Valenciana and some others.
16:45And you also performed really well in small, medium, medium-length mountains.
16:52Would Flanders be an objective towards the future or would you think you will feel better?
16:59I think Roubaix would be more natural but for sure almost all cobbled classics would be an objective for the future.
17:13And if I have the role in the team to be the one that tries to win the race then I'm super thankful then I will try to do the best with that opportunity.
17:24And probably at that point I will also believe quite a lot in that I'm capable of doing it.
17:30But before this I just have to see, I'm pretty confident about Roubaix and that I eventually would try to get that title in the elites.
17:43But in Flanders, E3, the other big cobbled classics, Ghent, I'm trying to shape my rider to be more compatible with it.
17:55And I think I'm not too far away at the moment but if it ever comes as natural as Roubaix, I don't know.
18:10How popular is this journey compared to you in Sweden?
18:13Still quite a bit more popular.
18:18Basically if you won an Olympic gold medal then you are an athlete for a lifetime.
18:25And I can't really compare it to that medium tension.
18:30No, I'm not close at the moment.
18:33And also after the super season she had on the cross country bike, winning I don't know how many world cups and also the world championships for the first time for her in a long career.
18:46It's still quite a bit more light on her for sure.
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