peloton fuel for the ride. THE CLASSICS Unique Perspectives. RIK VAN LOOY The Emperor. HEIDI SWIFT 78 Hours in Ghent. PELOTONMAGAZINE.COM 12 COVER_12.indd 2 4/21/12 10:31 AM 12 filter. ONE YEAR AGO One year ago on the second Sunday It goes against every instinct for a Words > Jered Gruber of April, Roger Hammond set off rider like Hammond. Racing is in his Images > Gruber Photography & Yuzuru Sunada from Compiegne in search of the win blood, and to walk away when the that had eluded him his whole career, race starts, it’s just not right. Eisel laughs and rolls off with Klier. the one he wanted more than any other: Paris-Roubaix. A year later and That reflective moment soon ends We head off in the direction of the Hammond is in plain clothes, standing though. Hammond snaps out of van, and once safely inside and headed quietly, watching former teammates, the daydream and walks into the to our first stop, we resume the chat on directors, managers and soigneurs fray. He greets friends every which tire pressure. hurry by—just minutes before the way—he knows everyone—and race’s tidal wave sets off on a crooked that’s not an exaggeration. That So what’s the story? northeasterly journey to Roubaix. quiet moment off to the side is long forgotten, and it feels like he’s about “There’s a lot of toying with tire It’s hard being the other person to race. I would have thought he pressure at Roubaix. A lot of riders in a moment like that. You have a was going to start momentarily if it will ride an aero bike or high tire vague understanding of the feeling, weren’t for the jeans and dark jacket. pressure or both for the first part of but even vague is probably an the race, then, when the important exaggeration. I don’t do well with It’s with a big smile and a hug that he cobbles draw near after 150 uncomfortable silences, so I ask the greets another recent retiree, Servais kilometers, they’ll make a quick bike obvious, “Is it hard watching your Knaven. Knaven, a winner of Paris- change to a bike and tire pressures favorite race about to set off?” Roubaix in one of the legendary suited for the finale.” It sounds mudfests, is now a director with Team like a clever idea, but it’s a risk. “Yeah,” Hammond says while Sky. They chat, and while they chat, scanning the colorful scene before him. two more friends roll up—Garmin- “In Lars Michaelsen’s last year, “It’s really hard. The only consolation Barracuda’s Andreas Klier, and Sky’s 2009, he did that. He was trying to I have is that this race isn’t even worth Bernhard Eisel. It doesn’t take long do everything just perfectly, so he starting unless you’re in perfect form.” before the thumbs come out and tire opted for the risky bike swap—not The new father looks down at himself, pressures are compared. I would put at the beginning, but at the end smiles, and says, “I’m most certainly my money on the line and say that of the race, after the Carrefour de not in perfect form right now.” they could all guess tire pressure l’Arbre. He got on a fast bike in within a quarter bar. preparation for the fast finale, but But still, that silly little detail of promptly crashed on the sector of not being ready for a race doesn’t Eisel’s tire pressure is significantly cobbles in Gruson. Race over.” stop that feeling that he would give higher than Klier’s. They all turn to anything to jump on a bike and give Eisel and laugh, as if to say, what race The same fate befell even Hammond everything he had just one more time. are you doing today, Bernie? last year. “I stopped to let out some air 066 ••• PELOTONMAGAZINE.COM ROUBAIX_HAMMOND.indd 2-3 6/22/12 11:25 AM Image > Yuzuru Sunada ROGER STOPPED AT THE COBBLE LABELED “MAGNUS BACKSTEDT 2004”; HE STOMPED HARD ON THE ROCK AND KEPT MOVING. WITHOUT LOOKING BACK, HE ASKED (MOSTLY) JOKINGLY, DID IT CRACK? from my tires right here,” he points For some riders, Roubaix is energy that needed exorcising on this to a seemingly random spot along the a professional obligation. For Easter Sunday, and since there was no road near the Arenberg Forest. “I got Hammond, it was the focal point of bike and no cobbles to do battle with, on and chased through the field but each season. It was a passion. all attention was now on the road—the I was still too far back. I crashed into traffic, the police, the chase. a concrete median soon after exiting Think I’m getting all flowery? Try this. the cobbles. Heino (Heinrich Haussler) One can only imagine what it was like came down with me as well. I felt so So we’re driving, and you know that on the road when he was racing. bad, but Heino shook his head—thank word passion and the feeling that he’d God for that. I had nothing at all.” give anything to race? That energy We ended up behind two Katusha had to come out somewhere. It came cars headed in our desired direction. On the exact opposite side of out in our chase. We didn’t have press Two red Katusha team cars with the stressful tire pressure and creds, thus, we were not allowed on our red, unofficial “Katusha” team equipment question are the poor the course. It just wasn’t possible. vehicle in tow. Perhaps this could Spanish teams. Hammond told us work? Could we slip in unnoticed? a story he had heard from Spanish Except, apparently it was. We hardman, Vicente Reynes. spent the whole day on the course. That’s a laughable thought, as nothing Roger, working in tandem with the goes unnoticed by the law during a “The flights for the Euskaltel riders legendary soigneur Bart Brackez, major classic—except us, of course. were set up so that if a rider actually was a force not to be trifled with. Bart rammed the car as close to the finished the race, he would not make There was no power that could hold Katusha bumper as possible and his flight home. The team wouldn’t Roger and Bart back. No creds? No with eyes locked straight ahead, with give them their good tubular wheels, problem. This was a former podium nary a sideways glance, with the so they all raced clinchers at nine bar. finisher at Roubaix—do you think whole van chanting in unison led by Reynes, racing for one of the Banesto something as trifling as a lack of a Roger—“Don’t brake, Bart!”—he descendant teams, wasn’t like them sticker would keep him off the pavé? gunned it on to the course to the though—he wanted to do well. He joyous howls of laughter from Roger. was racing for a result, but had his day The spirit of the race was in Roger, come to an end after a flat tire: his and it infected everyone in the giant Last year, we couldn’t believe our team didn’t have any more wheels.” red van. There was this irascible ears when we were told a story of 068 ••• PELOTONMAGAZINE.COM ROUBAIX_HAMMOND.indd 4 6/22/12 11:25 AM IT WOULD PROBABLY BE HARD TO EXAGGERATE HOW MANY TIMES HAMMOND HAS REPLAYED THAT FINISH IN HIS HEAD. a guy who chased Roubaix with been kindly told to go the other hard on the rock and kept moving. a forged car pass. This year, we away—this would be our stopping Without looking back, he asked were on the course without a single point—from here, none shall pass. (mostly) jokingly, “Did it crack?” piece of official stickerdom. Except, Bart wasn’t satisfied with That was, of course, the cobble that It all went down to balls. Big ones. the location. He got out of the car, could have been his. He went into If you drive with the authority that walked up to the police, exchanged the velodrome that day as part of you belong, despite the unsinkable, some friendly words, and two seconds a quartet: Hammond, Backstedt, unquestionable fact that you absolutely later, the barriers were moved, and Fabian Cancellara and Tristan do not, somehow it works. I don’t have we were back on the course. This Hoffman. The finish is painful to those cojones, but Bart and Roger do. was an entirely new level: we weren’t watch. Hammond is in prime position With Roger goading Bart on, there even breaking the rules anymore, on Cancellara’s wheel heading into was nothing that wasn’t possible. Had we now had the consent of the the final straight. As the sprint opens they set their sights on it; I think they ruling party. This was too much. up in earnest though, Cancellara could have pulled off a victory lap on moves to his right, opening the door the Roubaix velodrome. We stopped at the Orchies sector for Backstedt, and shutting it on of cobbles on the heels of the best Hammond—the hand had been dealt. The race came and went on multiple recommendation I’ve ever heard: occasions, so did the clattering of “This is where the cool kids attack!” As we stretched our legs to quicken our carbon wheels on ancient cobbles, as speed, Hammond details the finish: “I peculiar and distinctive as ever.