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Spanish climber finds new wings at Katusha
By Andrew Hood
Photo: Agence France Presse
Antonio Colom is one of those Spanish riders well known and respected within the peloton, but perhaps not so famous beyond the Pyrénées.
A solid climber and consistent performer in week-long stage races, Colom should be called “Mr. Spring,” for his consistent performances in early season races such as Paris-Nice, Ruta del Sol and the Mallorca Challenge.
Colom, who turns 31 next month, is in his 10th season as a professional. After a few years on smaller Spanish teams, he joined the Banesto team in 2004 for three seasons before two years with Astana.
Last year, he was Alberto Contador’s roommate and key supporter during his surprise Giro d’Italia victory, but Colom could see the writing on the wall.
With Contador, the comeback of Lance Armstrong and a strong lineup that also includes Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden, Colom switched to Katusha for 2009 to have more chances to ride for himself.
His master-plan for the first part of the 2009 season has been going close to perfect. A native of Mallorca, he won a stage in his “hometown” race of the Mallorca Challenge, then beat back Contador on a mountaintop finish at the Volta ao Algarve in February and won a stage at Paris-Nice in March to finish fifth overall.
Colom now enters the decisive final stages of the Vuelta al País Vasco positioned for a shot at overall victory, in fourth place at nine seconds off the pace.
VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood sat down with Colom earlier this season in a wide-ranging conversation about his desire to be a team captain, Armstrong’s comeback and just how good Alberto Contador really is.
VeloNews: Toni, why did you decide to make the switch from Astana to Katusha?
Photo: Andrew Hood
Toni Colom: My two years at Astana were a few hard years of my career. In 2007, we were forced to leave the Tour for the “back door,” so to speak. Nothing was sure about the team until Johan (Bruyneel) took over. I already had a contract, but Johan already his people. It’s difficult to enter a group like what we can call ‘US Postal’ and show yourself. ‘OK, Toni, you have your ideas, but here, it’s to work, for Levi, for Klöden, for Contador, for whoever. Work, work, work.’ For example, last year at the Tour de Georgia, I was the strongest rider on the team and I could have won the race, but I had to work for Leipheimer.
VN: So it was a question of you wanting more opportunities to ride for yourself?
TC: The years were passing by and my opportunity still hadn’t arrived. You reach a point in your life when you have to decide, do you want to work for the rest of your life, or make a step forward and start winning again. After the Giro, I had various offers from other teams, like Liquigas and Rabobank. They wanted someone to work for the big captain. OK, you can try to win the small races, but at the Giro or Tour, you work. I am not saying that riders like Menchov and Basso are not important riders, but I also believe that I am a good rider. Then the offer came from (Katusha). Financially, it was less than other teams, but here I had the luck that I have the opportunity to demonstrate something. I prefer to lose money, but that they give me a chance to demonstrate what I am capable of. I start with this motivation, that the team is going to support me.
VN: Have you seen any difference on the team that they are treating more like a captain?
TC: The difference here is clear. I spent an extra half hour working on the time trial bike at the training camp and the entire team waited for me. They took the time to do it correct. I was also sick a few days in Mallorca, they told me to take it easy, recover. When you see the team that is supporting you, you want to return the favor with victories and working that much harder.
VN: So when you say you want more chances for yourself, are you suggesting that you will take aim for the grand tours?
TC: I’m not sure I would want to bet the whole season on one grand tour. There are other races that are important, such as Paris-Nice, Pais Vasco, Criterium International. It’s a good period to see who has the strength and then see where I am at as well. These early races are also good for me because I live in Mallorca. I can start training early and arrive into the early season in top form. So this early period is ideal for me. Then, after that, we can see what the team needs for the Tour.
VN: So the Tour de France is in your plans for this year?
Photo: Agence France Presse
TC: If the team needs someone to go to the Tour and win stages, maybe I won’t go to the Tour. We have riders like Steegmans, McEwen, Pozzato winning stages, a few riders to help them in the flats, and then have a rider like Karpets for the GC, with another rider or two to help him in the mountains, so maybe I wouldn’t be part of these plans. Perhaps I will take a nice break after this first intense period and then rebuild for the Vuelta a España. I think I can aim for a top-5, perhaps more. Sure, things can happen and you have a crash, so then I would try to win stages. This is a very good calendar for me.
VN: So this move is really about a chance to test your capabilities instead of working for a big leader?
TC: Remember, I didn’t work my entire career. At Caisse d’Epargne, I had freedom and I had people working for me at the beginning of the year because I never let them down. This is the opportunity to win something big. I don’t want just to podium. I want to beat the big riders – I don’t care if it’s Contador, Valverde, Evans, the Schleck brothers, who are all great riders – but I know that I can be at that level. OK, if things don’t work out, then at least I tried. I am 30, now the time to do it.
VN: You mentioned that you suffer from allergies, what have you done about it?
TC: I am very allergic to a lot of things, to pollen, to olive, dust, dog hair, cat hair. Four years ago I was even worse than I am now. My wife was sick of seeing me in such bad shape and dragged me to an allergy specialist. I said, no, no, I am a cyclist, I will tough it out. When I finally arrived, the doctor made some tests and he asked me, how is it possible that you race a bike in May? You should be dead. We started with some vaccinations, micro-doses in the arm, and it was swollen up like a balloon. We started with one vaccination a week. Little by little, until the levels were higher, that I have built a resistance.
VN: Do you continue with the treatments?
TC: I still take the vaccinations and I will be for the rest of my life. Throughout the entire year I have to take pills, a vaccination once a month, and, if I have a crisis, I have a spray. It’s not to be able to breath better; it’s simply to be able to breath. When I look back, I wonder, how did I race before? I would just die. The sport directors always thought I was crazy because every time it rains or it’s cold, I’d happy. Why? Because, for the first part, half of the riders in the peloton don’t like rain. But for me, it was because I could breath like a normal person and – boom! – I could go. Last year at the Giro, Contador is like me, very allergic, and every night we were at the TV, watching the weather with rain, we were like, yes! Rain!
VN: Speaking of the Giro, how true is the story that no one knew that you would be going to the Giro? Some say the team knew weeks before the official invitation came from the Giro?
TC: No one knew. After the Tour de Georgia, I went home to rest. We talked, OK, maybe Dauphine or Tour de Suisse, then Johan called me, you’re going to the Giro. I was like, no way! Me, the Giro? It was a big problem for Alberto, too. When Alberto started the Giro, he was fat. He wasn’t in shape to race a three-week tour, no way. The first few days, he was really struggling. They were going after him, but he fought on. He would go to bed just exhausted, saying I can’t keep going. Then one day he woke up and said, OK, let’s do this. Then he wins the Giro, just amazing.
VN: When did you start to believe he could win?
TC: He’s a great cyclist. His physical gifts are unparalleled. He was just incredible. After the time trial when he was second, then it was apparent he might be able to win. But there was an earlier stage, where Di Luca and Ricco were really going hard, attacking, attacking. Contador put himself on the wheel and stayed there. He couldn’t come through to take a pull, but they couldn’t drop him, either. That night at the hotel, I said, you’re going to win the Giro. He was, no way, I am going home. I said, ‘I am already here for a week, working my ass off for you, carrying up water bottles, if you go home now, I will kill you! Just wait three or four days and see.’ Then the stage to Marmolada, he was there. After that, everyone knew he was going to win.
VN: Just how far do you think Contador go?
TC: There is no one in world cycling right now who’s close to him. I’ve worked for Vinokourov, Valverde, for some big champions, no one has the ability to recovery like Contador. He doesn’t die. You cannot kill him.
VN: So you think Contador’s ability to recover is what makes him special?
TC: There are some great riders, but there is no one who can recovery like Contador. I’ve been around Valverde, but he always has one bad day. Menchov has won two Vueltas, but he, too, has a bad day and they just can’t go. With those guys, you can see it and then you can kill them. The problem with Alberto is that you cannot see it. Alberto arrived at the top of the Marmolada and he said, ‘if they couldn’t finish me off today, then they can’t do it, because I am dead.’ But they couldn’t do it. He hung on, hung on, hung on; finally, they dropped him at the top and gained 10 seconds. The problem to gain these 10 seconds, the next day you’re dead, but Alberto has already recovered. That is his great virtue. He’s a great climber who can make a good time trial. The problem is that you cannot kill him. Where? In the flats? Contador won’t be caught sleeping. Alberto is very hard to kill off. Even when he’s suffering, you still cannot kill him off.
VN: What does it take to beat Contador?
TC: You have to be very strong to beat Contador. He doesn’t have a weak point. Even if he’s not so good in the time trial, he’s still in the top 10. If he’s not so good one day in the mountains, he’ll only lose 10 seconds. There’s no one like him. He can keep winning for many, many years. He’s so young.
VN: And what about Valverde, an ex-teammate of yours, do you believe he can win a grand tour?
TC: A guy like Valverde, you wake up and ask, ‘how are you feeling, Alejandro?’ He shrugs and says, ‘I am feeling good, Toni’ – ay! madre mia! When he says that! – Another problem is that Alejandro likes to ride at the back of the bunch all day. Just like Karpets, he likes to be behind, too. When a big climb comes, you have to fight to the front, it’s one minute, when you’re there, you’re already dead. It’s something they must change if they want to win a big tour. I believe that Alejandro could win a big tour, but he’d had to have a bit of luck. And everything would have to go just right for him.
VN: How well do you know Sastre? What did you make of his victory in the Tour last year?
TC: I know him as part of the group. I have a lot of respect for him. He doesn’t speak much, but he’s worked very hard to get to where he is. He’s an example for many of us to follow. He was a rider who’s worked very hard for others and then his opportunity came when he was 33. I am not going to say I can win a Tour de France, because I don’t believe I have the motor to be in the top-5 in the Tour, but when you look at a rider like Sastre, here’s a rider who’s worked his whole career for others, and afterward, he won a Tour. Why cannot I win a País Vasco or in the top-5 of the Vuelta, to be with the best? Why not?
VN: His attack on Alpe d’Huez was pretty impressive …
TC: The attack he made at Alpe d’Huez was incredible and it was tactically perfect. If one of the Schlecks went, it would have been over for him. If Frank had gone, he would have had to wait. He attacked from very far, and then he won the Tour. I like to see this style of racing, not so controlled. The work that CSC did in the Tour was perfect.
VN: What other riders impress you or serve as a role model for you?
TC: A rider like Jens Voigt, he sacrificed a lot last year, too. With a big champion like him, he wakes up and smells the air and says, ‘this is my day.’ You can do what you want, but he’s already determined that his day is his, it’s over. Like that day he won in the Giro last year, it was cold, it was rainy, everyone had on arm warmers, leg warmers, rain jackets. Then Voigt rolls up, short sleeves, short pants, I say to Alberto, today Jens will win. He’s crazy. We’re going and boom! – 20 riders in a break, then – boom! – Jens Voigt alone. That’s it. Some riders are special, some have that extra spark.
VN: What do you think of the comeback of Armstrong?
TC: That’s another story. First, Armstrong has to demonstrate that he can come back, when he does that, then he has to win something, and after that, then we can talk about the Tour. I say that with all the respect in the world.
VN: Did you pick up anything at your time at Astana that might provide insight on why he decided to return?
TC: If Lance is coming back, he has his reasons. After racing last year on Astana, which was more or less Discovery Channel, and hearing the stories about Lance trained, how he prepared, the details he paid attention to, everything he did to win, knowing all that, if Armstrong comes back, it’s because he knows he can do something. I am not going to say he can win the Tour. But it’s because he knows he can do something, because if not, he wouldn’t come back. You have to respect the riders who are here. You cannot say that a rider who has been inactive for three years that automatically you say he’s going to win the Tour. There are other riders, right now, who can win the Tour, who have won, and they deserve our respect.
VN: Do you think it complicates things for Contador, who didn’t have a chance last year to race the Tour?
TC: No, I don’t think so.
I think Armstrong’s comeback is actually good for Alberto. I tell you why, because this won’t allow him to sleep. The best rider in the history of the Tour has just joined his team. That’s a wake-up call and now he cannot fall asleep at the wheel. Alberto thinks like this, ‘you have won seven, I have won three grand tours, and now I am going to demonstrate that I can win another one, with or without you.’ At first, Alberto was upset, wondering about the implications, but after he thought about it coldly, he said to me, it’s better like this. This even gives me motivation. It’s a bigger challenge.
VN: How do you think the team will juggle the presence of so many capable riders for the Tour?
TC: I think they will make a team for both of them. They’ve signed some great riders, riders who can work all day. It’s going to be so exciting. To have two chickens in the same roost will also serve well their rivals, because they will have to be that much better to be able to try to counter Astana. Because if Alberto attacks and Lance stays back, boom, you go with Alberto. And if Lance attacks, Alberto will have to sit back. Perhaps this can benefit the other teams, if they’re strong enough. Who’s going to work? Astana, all day long. All you have to do is sit on the wheel. They have to be just like before in the Armstrong era, super-strong. So it’s just like before, Astana – all day long. Just like in the sprints, who’s going to work? Highroad. Katusha won’t have to work, not on the flats, not in the mountains. I prefer the kind of team we have now, without a huge, big favorite. Look at McEwen, he can win a lot of stages this year. We can give him a little bit more support than he had last year. Pozzato will win, too.
