In the fourth chapter of Cyclist`s Tour de France

Tour diaries b Pro racing
Tour diaries…
the directeur
sportif
‘O
n Wednesday,
I entertained
a guest of
Richard
Virenque…’
Trek Factory
Racing’s directeur sportif (DS), Alain
Gallopin, interrupts his own story
to bellow out the window, ‘Richie!
Richie, you want a drink?’
Team Sky’s Richie Porte strains
a smile through the haze of riding
up the 22km ascent of the Col de la
Croix de Fer, but raises a declining
palm of the hand.
‘Where was I?’ Gallopin says, to
himself rather than me. ‘Yes, Ricco’s
friend was with us and said I’m like a
mafia baron because I’m everywhere.
I guess he’s right – this is my 25th
Tour and I know everybody.’
It’s around 2pm on Friday in late
July, Stage 19 between Saint-Jeande-Maurienne and La ToussuireLes Sybelles, and Cyclist is in the
passenger seat of the Trek Factory
Racing team car. It’s a sweltering
day in south-east France, the sort of
oppressive heat and humidity that
adds intensity to every movement.
Helicopters hover beneath gathering
dark clouds. Ambulance sirens pierce
the noise of the fans and the perpetual
car horns. Against this apocalyptic
backdrop, 58-year-old Gallopin is
the coolest man around. ‘Everything
under control,’ Gallopin murmurs to
himself. ‘Everything under control…’ P
86
cyclist
Trek’s directeur
sportif, Alain Gallopin,
issues instructions from
behind the wheel of the
team car during Stage
19 of this year’s Tour
In the fourth chapter of Cyclist’s Tour de France
journey with Trek Factory Racing, we take a
ride with the man in charge of team tactics
Words James Witts Photography Juan Trujillo Andrades
Tour diaries b Pro racing
P As it transpires, Gallopin is right.
Everything is under control. By the
end of the stage, Team Sky’s Geraint
Thomas will drop down the standings,
elevating Trek’s Bauke Mollema to
eighth in the general classification.
Mollema will take seventh place
on the day, behind stage-winner
Vincenzo Nibali, and will cut a threeminute deficit to 43 seconds on IAM
Cycling’s Mathias Frank.
‘Our goal has always been for
Bauke to finish
seventh overall,’
Gallopin says.
‘He has a good
chance because
he listens. This
morning, Bauke
wanted to attack.
We [Gallopin and
fellow DS Kim
Anderson] said,
“Where will you go with that? Just
stay in contention and let the others
crack.” It worked. Tomorrow the
strategy will be the same.’
It’s a strategy that will prove to
be spot on, with Mollema ultimately
finishing the Tour in seventh place.
It’s evidence that no rider can succeed
at the big races by the strength of
their legs alone. They need to follow a
plan, and this is where the directeurs
sportif earn their money. These are the
experts in strategy and occasionally
subterfuge. They establish the team
goals, brief the riders, crack the whip
where necessary, and sometimes
offer a shoulder to cry on.
Directeurs sportif are the
orchestrators of the team. At training
camps they work with the riders
to decide their race schedule and
subsequent course reconnaissance.
At the races they make tactical calls
before and during the stage, and
provide a regular source of food
and drink for the riders. They
also tend to drive like lunatics.
‘That car in front – if
you’re a good driver,
you don’t make such
noise. Alain Prost
taught me that’
88
cyclist
While Gallopin casually regales me
with tales from his life as a DS, which
includes two Giro d’Italia titles and
one Vuelta a Espana, I cling on for
dear life as he takes the sharp corners
of an Alpine lane at 50mph-plus.
Every frenzied instruction from
the car’s microphone is interpreted
by Gallopin as the green light to put
his foot down and weave his way in
and out of the flotilla of team cars in
search of a Trek rider to deliver fuel
to. Today those riders include Markel
Irizar and Gregory Rast, two big riders
whose domestique duties are more
suited to the flatter stages. Gallopin
is supporting the rear group while
Anderson follows Mollema and Bob
Jungels further up the field. I suspect
Anderson’s driving style adheres to
the Gallopin School of Overtaking,
namely: aim for the car in front
and hammer the horn repeatedly,
which miraculously creates a gap
barely a foot wider than the width of
Gallopin’s Skoda to storm through. It’s
a script that’s played out many times
over during the 138km stage.
‘Have you had any crashes?’ I
ask. ‘Not really, no,’ replies Gallopin.
‘Everyone gets used to this driving,
though the young ones aren’t as good.
That Giant-Alpecin car in front – he’s
screeching at every turn. If you’re
a good driver, you don’t make such
noise. Alain Prost taught me that.’
As Gallopin says, he knows
everyone. At every roadside stop to
pass bottles to the riders, Gallopin
chats – to the Astana DS, the TinkoffSaxo DS and his son, spectators –
he even receives a kiss from a lady
in the crowd. ‘This is my favourite
race,’ he says, a glint behind the
glasses. ‘There’s solidarity between
the teams and I love it. It’s like my
second sporting family.’
son, Tony, races for Lotto-Soudal.
He’s completed four Tours, including
2015’s edition, and memorably wore
le maillot jaune on Bastille Day in 2014
– a feat that’s been described as so
French you could ‘keep cheese in it’.
Alain also raced, but for only three
months in 1982. ‘I was racing the
Circuit de la Sarthe [an early-season
stage race in France],’ he says. ‘I was
involved in a stupid crash – all crashes
are stupid – and nearly died.’
The directeur
sportif has an allencompassing role,
deciding tactics,
giving riders their
instructions, briefing
the media and
handing out drinks
on each stage
Below: A textbook
sticky bottle
He suffered a fractured skull, plus
a capitulation of his inner ear that
affected his balance so severely he
couldn’t stand. ‘I healed but I still have
ringing in my ear. That’s why I wear
this earpiece – it softens the pain.’
At just 25 Gallopin called time on
his professional racing career almost
before it had begun. The loss of a
childhood dream could weigh on
a man’s character, make him bitter,
especially surrounded by his siblings’ P
The Gallopin family
His first family is part of the fabric of
French cycling. Alain’s brothers, Guy
and Joel, rode nine Tours between
them in the 1970s and 1980s. Joel’s
cyclist
89
Tour diaries b Pro racing
P trophies and memories of past
glories. Not Gallopin.
‘Life is life and I’m still alive,’
he says, before swiftly moving the
conversation on to matters less
personal. ‘In the past, on a climb like
this [Col de la Croix de Fer], Bernard
Hinault would say to the lead riders,
“Let’s go easy and reserve energy for
the big fights at the end.” He’d then
warn them, “If you don’t want to, I’ll
go full gas and 40 guys won’t make
the cut-off and will head home. So
which is it?” He was the boss.’
It was another French Tour winner,
Laurent Fignon, who Gallopin was
closest to in his early days. After
his crash, Gallopin retrained as a
physiotherapist but kept in touch
with Fignon, who had been a friend
since both men turned pro in 1982.
After winning successive Tours
in 1983 and 1984, a knee injury
forced Fignon out in 1985. Seeking
a confidence boost and guidance,
Fignon hired Gallopin as his soigneur
and ‘confidant’. ‘We grew close and
I soigneured for Laurent right up until
his retirement in 1993 when he was
racing for Gatorade,’ says Gallopin.
Fignon, who died from cancer aged
50 in 2010, was full of praise for his
friend. In his autobiography, We Were
Young And Carefree, he suggests it
was Gallopin’s absence that led him
to test positive for amphetamine
misuse in 1989 for the second and
last time in his career.
90
cyclist
‘Ten days before the Grand Prix
de la Libération, we had arranged to
do a session of intervals behind the
motorbike,’ Fignon revealed. ‘The
phone rang. Alain’s wife was in labour
and he had to go to hospital for the
happy event. There was no more to
be said, except that I was left alone
with my bike, my morale in my boots.
I had no desire to hurt myself on my
own and I can still see myself now,
completely undecided whether I
QUICK Q&A
Gallopin’s swift tips for
coping with the Tour
What’s your best piece of advice for
anyone visiting the Tour de France?
The first tip is to just be careful with
the sizeable crowds on parts of the
parcours. This is especially important
as a lot of children attend the event and
you don’t want you or the child to cause
an accident. You should also respect
the riders. Give them room to ride
as they have a very tough job.
‘I could be retired
and at home with my
wife, but I love it and
won’t stop until I can’t
do my job 100%’
What’s the weirdest thing that has
happened to you at the Tour?
It’s probably not weird but it was
certainly strange, and that’s when
Laurent Fignon lost the 1989 Tour by just
8secs. Again, this probably isn’t ‘weird’
but I remember giving a bottle to Lance
Armstrong at the 2010 Tour when with
Radioshack. I was astonished at how
much he could suffer on the bike.
What’s your best piece of advice
for anyone riding a big event?
On the Friday and Saturday before
Sunday’s race increase your carb intake,
but don’t eat too much on the morning
of the event. When riding, eat every 40
minutes, choosing fast-acting sugars
like energy drinks and gels. Also, don’t
get carried away with the excitement
and go too hard, too early. You’ll go into
the red, which could make it a long day.
It’s clear that Gallopin will do
anything for his riders. His paternal
instinct sees him enquiring after the
riders’ health as he hands them rice
cakes and bidons through the car
window. Like any DS, he’s not averse
to gently accelerating while the rider
grasps the bottle to help slingshot
them back into the pack. He considers
this reasonable in what he describes
as ‘the most brutal event in sport’.
‘The riders and their safety are
everything to me,’
he says. ‘They also
keep me young.
I’m 58 and have no
plans to finish yet.
Yes, I have a bad
back, which stops
me cycling and
running as much
as I’d like, but I
stretch to stay in
shape. I could be retired and at home
with my wife, but I love it and won’t
stop until I can’t do my job 100%.’
With that, Gallopin looks to his
right, plucks some papers from the
glove compartment and throws them
out of the passenger window to a
passing team car from CannondaleGarmin. ‘What were they?’ I ask.
‘They were insurance papers. We were
involved in a bit of a knock yesterday,’
Gallopin replies, a smile spreading
over his tanned visage. ]
James Witts has finally released his
grip of the team car’s door handle
would even put a leg over the saddle.
It was that bad.’ He resorted to a ‘pot’
– the pro’s term for the drug. Fignon
tested positive and ‘felt shame’, but
was soon back racing.
As well as actually
driving, Gallopin has a
host of things to keep
track of from behind
the wheel, including
where his riders are on
the stage and what’s
happening in the race
Managing talent
In 1994, Gallopin sampled his first
taste of team management at French
team Catavana-AS Corbeil EssonnesCedico, which disbanded after just
one season. But Gallopin was hooked,
and went on to work for several toplevel teams including CSC, Astana,
Radioshack and now Trek.
cyclist
91