- hi Peter, by winning the Clasica San Sebastian you made history in Gigabike, being our first Danish winner! How did you experience this victory ?
Obviously winning is always nice, and since it was my first victory in the game, it was especially nice!! Making history is just a bonus, but since I am the only Dane in the game I guess if there should be a Danish winner, it should be me :-)
- Could you introduce yourself to our audience ?
I am a 28-year-old Dane living in Leuven with my Danish girlfriend. I have lived here just more than 2 years now, and have in this time been working for a transport company.
In my spare time I follow a lot of sports, primarily football and cycling.
- How does a Dane end up in Belgium ?
I think this is the question I have received most often, apparently Belgian people find it difficult to understand why anybody would move here. It would be easy to say I came here because of all the great beers you have, but that's not the entire truth. I was so lucky to be in a position where I through my work had the possibility to go and work and live in another country and to me that sounded very interesting.
- How did you get introduced to Gigabike ? Via whom or what ??
I was introduced to Gigabike via a friend I have from my football team. He heard of my interest of cycling, so he told me it could be fun to be a part of the game.
- What does it make to a man by winning a "major" classical race in Gigabike ?
It was a great experience!! Twice I was second on a stage in the Giro, which left me frustrated because I was so close. So later to be able to go and win a classical race really made up for the 2 second places. My first reaction when I realized I had won was to enthusiastically show my girlfriend the result and to brag about it. Her reply – “So what??????” - put me back to reality. Thankfully I had a congratulation email from a friend, so the victory didn’t go by completely unnoticed.
- Did you expect this victory - or was it a surprise ? Did you follow the Clasica on TV ?
It was a very big surprise. Before the race I thought there were too many of the favourites which I didn’t have in my team, and even when I saw the result I didn’t think I had done so well, because I thought I was missing too many in the top 10 – thankfully the others did that as well!! For once I didn’t have opportunity to follow a big race live on TV, so I only learned about the result later in the evening. Maybe that’s a sign I should avoid watching the races, if it means that I can win them :-)
- This year's your 2nd participation. How did it go last year ?
Yes, it is the second time I am participating. Last year I did not do very well, so there is no point in going into details about my final place in the ranking – only that I was in the top 400 :-)
I made a lot of – what I later learned was – beginner mistakes. Luckily I learned from it, and this year has been much better - meaning a place in the top 150 for the moment – which is probably the best I can hope for. The ambition for this year was to end in the top half.
- Being a Dane - you must have specific feelings on the past Tour and especially on what happened with Michael Rasmussen ...
It was indeed a special Tour for me, and unfortunately it turned out to be full of negative surprises again. (Rasmussen, Astana & Cofidis……..) Since Rasmussen was in my team, naturally he should have been allowed to continue, and probably win the race :-)
I am very much in doubt what to think about the whole case, especially because all the information I have read seems to be very contradictive, so it is very difficult for us to know what actually has happened. Obviously if he has broken the rules he should be kicked out – no doubt about that – however, all the information that led to his exit seems to be facts that were already known before the tour even started. It seems to me that all the talks about his famous “whereabouts” only started because he was doing so well in the Tour – I can’t help thinking that if he had been nr. 50 in the classement, all of this would not have happened then. (Just when Rasmussen was kicked out, Contador was the next “victim” of the press.)
What also seems very strange is that the DCU (The Danish Cycling Union) seemed to be willing to do just about anything to take Rasmussen down (Rasmussen is for some reason not very popular in the Danish cycling environment). The president of DCU even started all this talk about the warnings regarding the whereabouts, even if he was not allowed to comment it!
It is a very difficult situation, but I think when you have been allowed to start, you should be allowed to finish - when no other news or incidents have taken place. I guess the next weeks/months will show if it was the right thing to do or not.
- While we're at it - what are your thoughts on Bjarne Riis and his confessions about his EPO-usage in the nineties ?
The Riis story is a very delicate matter in Denmark. His Tour victory was the biggest individual sports achievement in Danish history, which of course means he is a big star in Denmark!! Now with his work with Team CSC, they – at least claim to – do everything possible to check and test for doping in the team (fx. They made sure to have an external doctor – Mr. Damsgaard – to test the riders), so his intentions seem good, and maybe his confession was a way of earning some credibility in the eyes of the media and of course existing & potential sponsors.
I think everybody – even most Danes :-) - “knew” he was doped during his career, so in that sense there wasn’t anything shocking about the confession. What most people ask is: “What does it matter now”, and I will to a certain degree agree to that. However speaking the truth – no matter how late it is – should of course be the “right” thing to do, so for that I think at least he deserves some respect.
- You are part of the "tennisbabefreaks". How did you become a member ? How is the atmosphere within this league ... is there much communication, exchange of ideas and tips ... ?
I got into the “tennisbabefreaks” through the same person who introduced me to the game. I must admit that I don’t take much part in the league. Because of the “language barrier” it is more difficult to do something actively in this matter.
- How should you describe your cycling interest ? When did it start ? Is it passive or are you also an active cyclist ? Did the interest change since you came to Belgium ?
My interest in cycling is only passive, I must admit that I never had the interest in trying to become an active cyclist myself. I always had the interest for cycling. As a child it was primarily the Tour de France which was shown on television. Later when the Danish riders (Riis, Soerensen, Skibby, Hamburger etc.) started making good results, the interest increased. After moving to Belgium – and after joining Gigabike of course – I follow just about any race there is. Since Belgium is really a cycling country, it is easy to get caught in the atmosphere here.
- If you could pick one rider to accompany him during 24 hours , who would that be and why ?
Difficult question!! There isn’t anybody in particular that I would think of. It could be interesting to follow Team CSC. It seems they do a lot of training/preparation in a new way, and they have a lot of attention on teamwork, mental coaches etc. So I think that would be my choice.
Otherwise it should be Michael Rasmussen. I guess in 24 hours I could teach him some geography, or at least show him the difference between Italy and Mexico on a map :-)).
- Your prono for the podium of the upcoming WC in Stuttgart - which 3 names and why? Who would be the best Danish rider in the race ?
If there is one thing I have learned about cycling, it is to be careful to predict anything, you never know what happens – there is still a lot of tests to be taken before the WC, so I wont give any guesses, only hope that the 3 riders will be in my team … Unfortunately for the moment we don’t have very good riders in Denmark. Normally the best guess for a Dane making an impact on the race would be Jakob Piil, but since he has been injured for more or less 2 years now, I wouldn’t give him much chance. Matti Breschel is a young rider who maybe in the future could do something, but again I don’t think we will see much from the Danish riders this year.
- Would you recommend Gigabike to your Danish countrymen/women ?
For the game itself I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. I am very impressed with the game and really enjoy being in it. I don’t know how it is for the other foreign people participating, but if you have no knowledge of Dutch, it could be a little difficult. I understand a lot of the info on your site, but still I cannot use it as much as I would like to, so I think for other Danes it would be a bigger problem.
- What would you like to change in your current teamselection in order to become the 2nd Scandinavian winner of the Gigabike competition (after our Swedish Elli Sydow) ? (what are the major mistakes in your selection) ?
Well, I know I made a lot of mistakes already, and will probably continue to in the next transfer periods. I tend to select riders that I “like” and stay away of those I don’t “like” – even if they could earn me more points. I am probably also too stubborn about changing riders who are not doing well – it could be they started performing after I put them out of my team...
I don’t have nearly enough knowledge of all the riders in order to be in the top, so I have to hope for stage wins or a victory in a 1-day-race, and that’s OK with me.
Peter, thanks for the interview and good luck with the remainder of the season!
Interview : Peter Samoy
