Unfinished Business

So Damien, 12 Grand Tours, some team victories, some DNFs, many weeks of hopes and despair… what’s the most important lesson you’ve learned over the years on how to approach a Grand Tour?

It’s the obvious one but the most important lesson: that Grand Tours are long and conserving both mental and physical energy expenditure in every way possible adds up over 3 weeks. Also: the perception that once you’re tired its only downhill is false; the body has a funny way of recovering and one bad day doesn’t mean the rest of the tour is pointless, things can turn around pretty quickly, just as quickly as they got bad, in fact.

In these first few minutes you’ve already twice mentioned the mental aspect of grand tours, could you explain in a bit more detail?

Yeah, so finding moments throughout the day to make the most of the little downtime you have over the 3 weeks is really important, whether it’s a call with family, reading a book, listening to music or playing a mindless game on your phone, you need to find ways to relax. I was also taught early in my career that grabbing a 1 hour nap each day for 21 days adds up to a whole extra day of sleep compared to somebody who’s not doing it. So everything adds up and everything is compressed in a grand tour. You’re switched on for so much of the day from the race itself, to recovery, press requirements, eating, massage, ice baths. It’s all part of the job and requires concentration and takes it toll…

You told me that ever since you found out that Pinarello Q36.5 would be invited to the Tour in 2026 you knew this was your major objective for the year. Can you explain why you wanted to come back so much?

Over my career and over the 12 grand tours I’ve raced I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of teams that have had a large amount of success, whether it was winning with Yates in 2018, Chavez’s second in 2017 and Tom [Pidcock’s] podium last year at the Vuelta, but I’ve been to the Tour twice and though the first first we had some success, for example winning the white jersey with Yates the first time, it wasn’t somehow a result that highlighted how special the experience of riding the tour was, the second time was one of those grand tours where nothing really went to plan with GC not eventuating, chasing stages for two weeks and finally crashing out on stage 16… so I felt that, having had success at other tours, I really wanted to go back one more time before the end of my career and enjoy the environment, feel adrenaline again and hopefully taste the success I haven’t yet had whether it’s a stage for the team or a high GC result. So yeah, unfinished business.

What’s the most essential thing you pack in your suitcase?

Honestly, I take the same things to every race I go to. That’s just part of what I said before of treating the Tour the same way you’d treat every race. But if there is one thing that’s really important it’s the pillow. You’re sleeping in 21 different beds over 21 nights so having something familiar is important. And things that help you relax during downtime, so the Ipad to watch a movie and a good pair of headphones.