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The latest episode of the Bobby and Jens podcast is a treat. In addition to being a highly talented, highly successful pro bike rider who has won Milan-Sanremo, taken three stages in the Tour de France and a host of other successes, Matej Mohorič is also one of the most interesting characters in the peloton.
Intelligent and articulate, he earned plaudits this year when he not only won stage 19 of the Tour de France, but spoke with incredibly empathy after the stage in acknowledging that his success in winning meant that someone else failed. He said he felt sorry for his competitors that he was the one to cross the line first, a staggering and hitherto unheard of comment from a professional bike rider.
In what is a fascinating conversation with Bobby and Jens, Mohorič talks about his late teammate Gino Mäder, who tragically died during this year’s Tour de Suisse, and how his example inspired him to dig deeper than he normally would have on a mountain stage of the race. This in turn inspired him to go on to win the later stage, the third Tour stage victory of his career.
“I was third on stage 9. This year I didn’t plan to go in the breakaway that day, I wasn’t supposed to, I just tried to close the gap for the two climbers we have in the team,” he says. “They did a rush in the back and I ended up in the break by mistake. With a one hour mountain top finish at the end, I didn’t consider myself to have a chance to win the stage, but I wanted to honor Gino after what happened before the Tour.
“Obviously Gino was a climber, so that day I said to myself that even though I didn’t think that I had a chance, that I need to try for him and that I would really give my best because of that. And I ended up third on the stage not too far off winning.”
Mohorič said that this performance showed him that he had the legs and, being a near-miss, sharpened his resolve to try again to land a victory. That opportunity came later in the race.
“On stage 19 I knew it was the last chance for everyone to shine. Of course you dream of being that guy, but I know I have done it too many times to not know how hard and unlikely it is you who succeeds. It’s not just about the power, it is also about perseverance, being lucky on the day, being in the right move, spending energy when you need, about race-craft in general and all those things. In the end you need to also be confident.”
Mohorič also talks about the dazzling descent he used to win last year’s Milan-Sanremo, a caution-to-the-wind plummet off the Poggio using a dropper post to hand him a tactical advantage over some of the top names in the sport.
He also talks about his use of the pedaling super tuck, something Bobby believes Mohorič may have invented, and which he used to become the 2013 under 23 world road race champion at just 18 years of age. He explains where the technique came from, and responds to the UCI’s eventual decision to ban the position.
“I don’t know if I invented that, but I didn’t see it in races before I actually started doing it,” he says. “When me and my mates were kids, when we were 15 or 16 years old we started to do that. I grew up in a small village just on the edge of the Alps. My parent’s house is basically in the mountains, on top of a valley. And to go to meet my mates for training, I had to descend down that valley for 12 kilometers or something. I was always running a little bit late. I knew I could make time back on the way there, but I didn’t want to come there fatigued already before we started the ride.
“It started with the super tuck. I don’t know how we started to pedal doing it, but we realized that it was quite a bit more efficient. I wouldn’t say faster, because it is still faster if you go in the saddle and you pedal as fast as you can, because you can produce way more power. But to pedal in a super tuck, you can still do 200 watts or whatever, and that obviously propels you forward. You go quite fast, I would say almost as fast as if you went pushing as hard as you possibly could. But of course you are not fatigued, you don’t accumulate any fatigue.”
Listen above to the full interview, which includes his tips for descending faster and also his surprising acceptance of the UCI’s eventual decision to ban the supertuck.