Are you trying to deny trek had any influence on the rise of Laporte into a genuinely great rider? I suppose prophets don't influence them, rather they see visions of the future and preach to the masses
I'd love a too cold indoor trainer room
Questions for Saso:
Spoiler
Is a hot dog a sandwich or a taco? The Axeon website asked their riders and it threw me through a loop.
What is your single favourite day's racing in the history of cycling (a single stage or classic?)
Did you play through the Black Mirror interactive episode, and did you find the bit where you, the viewer/player, inform the main character they are being influenced by a higher power (you) for the higher power's viewing pleasure? What did you think and how would you react in that situation?
What is the first food you want to eat when you get back to Croatia?
How did you get the nickname "The Viper"?
How would you like to be your own boss? You would be a distributor and work from home like I do every day. Sign up using my promo code for 20% off your first shipment.
What do you think of your stats in the video game "Pro Cycling Manager 2019"?
First race you remember watching?
Who are the members of your family?
What did Jamalidin Novardianto smell like?
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
You kinda wanted it, you get what you deserve: Today's update will come as some sort of Q&A. Also it's my last day in Kuala Lumpur and my team invited me to a dinner on Petronas Tower, so I'll try to spit some fire pretty quickly:
Is a hot dog a sandwich or a taco? Strange, some Kiwi of St.George asked me a similar question when we busted on day 1 at the Tour of Thailand. It's neither, not even close, but it's even less of a Taco then a Sandwich.
What is the first food you want to eat when you get back to Croatia? You won't believe it, but I'd love some Burek again.
How did you get the nickname "The Viper"? Honestly I don't really know, it wasn't my idea. But I kinda like it. A mate from my local club, Ivo, just called me Viper after winning a couple of national junior races after some unexpected attacks that were kinda "lethal". I tweeted about being called the Viper, people liked it and adapted. After the army champs they were calling me like that over on GCN, so it got sticky I guess.
What do you think of your stats in the video game "Pro Cycling Manager 2019"? Guess they still don't know about the viper. Gonna play with another db instead, they're much better anyway. But I guess I have to wait for an update to play with myself. Pro Cyclist Mode has to do the trick, though Sapura never makes me an initial offer. Had some fun turning down Meridiana there though...
First race you remember watching? I saw Aldo Ilesic in Porec when he won in 2008. Kristoff and Kump where on the podium as well that year. Was a cool sprint, so some guys that turned out big later. So thankful that my mum and dad took me there.
Who are the members of your family? Well I'm living at home alone with my mum and dad. As said, he's Czech and she's Croatian, and they're just some normal working people. I'm blessed to have their support.
What did Jamalidin Novardianto smell like? Jama-who?
Many hvalas to fellow reader jandal7 for proposing those question. As I've read through all your magnificent comments, his turned out to be the ones I thought would be most interesting to answer.
Mmm Burek sounds nice - it is just a pie though it seems And awesome choice for favourite stage and a nice story for his first race.
Not happy he forgot the guy that kicked his ass in Thailand though And I don't like that my use of the hot dog question has left the impression this is a Kiwi debate - that's not even what a hot dog is in NZ Agree with his answer though
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
@jandal7: If you call burek just a pie you may not become the best of friends with Saso. He got to know a lot of charismatic people and had loads of new experiences, give him a break if he continues to race in Asia, which is very likely, then he'll cross paths with Jams for sure again.
Hey no hate on Saso's culinary choices, burek looks might tasty... and also mighty like a meat pie
And awesome for him to be back home, assuming with the family?
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
just a heads up about my situation: Croatia has been in a lockdown the last two weeks as it has happened in so many other places. Things opened up though, and I can do more and more rides at home. It seems like we've almost beaten the virus, it's just Brac, a small island in the Adriatic Sea, where those idiots don't know how to social distance.
Talking about my training, I do a lot of work on the Zagreb-hills. Lately have ridden longer rides, even thought of trying the Everest Challenge on the Sljeme. That's a climb quite close to Zapresic and it takes you from 200 to 1000m in pretty short time. That would take quite some training to do in beforehand though on those mountains. Should I go for it?
Also, it's great to hear some of my international followers praising my home country. Always happy to represent my beautiful region. Follow me on Strava for more pics of my rides, I can tell you it's better than what you find on the internet!
In other terms: Sapura is quite cool really. Matt recently had a Skype-conversation with me about future goals, and I told him about my recent training plans. You guys seem like you could make it to DS'es, when I asked him about his plans for me they were always matching. In Corona-times he adviced me to keep it a little bit more calm, not peaking now and having no energy left when the season (hopefully) picks up again. Though honestly there is not a lot else to do these days, so I can't ensure that I won't go out again for one or the other huge ride.
Lemme know if you have some suggestions for me. Cheers from Zaprešić!
An Everest challenge sounds like a cool way to train during the quarantine, I say go for it Good to her Saso is staying safe and Croatia are getting through it
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
this is Saso writing you from home office in Zaprešić, Croatia. As I have proposed, I'm in the final preperations for my Everest challenge. The last couple of weeks I trained harder, longer, more uphill kilometers than ever. Like really, I thought the Tour of Thailand was long but damn, these were some ass cracking distances. Literally.
Anyway, none of that HIIT shit, just the traditional rides. If I didn't know every meter of roads in north-easterm Croatia before (which I did), now I definitely do. The last days I've ridden on the Sljeme more and more often, but now I'm trying to catch a break for the last few days before attempting the challenge on the slopes of the mountain.
I also did some indoor riding as well, on days where traffic was high. Which, by the way, slightly starts to come back more and more. As soon as holiday season with foreign tourists kick off again, I might have to look for finally moving out to find some better roads for cycling. Definitely not Kuala Lumpur, where Cris still stays btw, but probably somewhere where other cyclists stay as well. Gotta ask around a little, though the Kazakh guys won't help, as I'm definitely not going to Almaty anytime soon.
Let's talk about another point: Real cycling will, according to plan, kick in on the 2nd of July again. My team Sapura, for the first time, got an invitation to the Sibiu Cycling tour. I guess I did choose the right team, this time cause with Cris from Moldova and fellow new rider Serghei from Romania (though he really is Moldovan but just changed nationalities for the money & support according to him) we've got two riders that are kinda local and also really some of the best GC riders the Continental Tour has to offer. You can guess what that means: A lot of workdays for me, but I'm thankful just to be able to race again. If it happens...
So, focus on preparing for real world racing again starts at the 1st of June. In May I'll just get some rides in and then try and attempt that hipster thing every second cool guy in the saddle does. I mean, I won't make it in Phil Gaimon time, but Jens Voigt could do it after retirement, and even worse, even Mark Cavendish could do it. And if he can do it right now, eventhough it was on the trainer which should be far easier, then anybody can do it.
Jokes asides, it will be the most painful day in my life. But I kinda love this shit, so I'm looking forward to it. See you when you can call me an Everester...
Cool to hear Saso has a race pencilled in for his return, and best of luck on the Everesting!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
yesterday it finally happened. After weeks of preperation I got up very early, at 6:30 AM we were down at the start of the climb of the Sljeme, shortly after the road leaves the main road to take that left turn and starts climbing. My parents parked their van on the side of the road, got their camping gear out (not the tent obviously) on a nearby Meadow and I prepared myself. Of course, the day before I double-checked everything in preperation, but I was nervous and had one last check-up. At 7AM it was time to start the fun. A mate from my local club drove me and my bike halfway up the climb with his van, as I had to do roughly 13 and-a-half climbs to do. Just to be sure I can finish at the top. If I can make it.
Believe it or not, the first couple of kilometers were almost effortless. But soon that should change. The first hour I was flying, going much faster than I expected, but then I started to feel the efforts. On the third ascent it was time to reduce the efforts, guess I've been a little overenthusiastic at the start. Sljeme is not as tough as a lot of the alpine climbs, but the final kilometer is brutal.
As time flew I started to slow down more and more. The good thing was: Multiple guys of my junior cycling teams joined me at some point that day for an ascent or two, so at least I got something else to distract me from the pain. Somehow even Kristijan Durasek, a guy I admired for most of my youth until stuff happened, joined me. You won't like to hear it, but he really is a normal guy next door, despite being slaugthered by the media. Nothing screams "cheater" when you talk to him. Well, I barely talked to him but he talked to me, as I was at a point where talking wasted way too much energy and I had to be focussed. On the 5th to 6th ascent he was there with me, and after that I had to take a 15 minute break when down at the basecamp with my parents and also some friends that joined for a little recovery and a big snack.
Then it was time to hit the road again, heading off from Bliznec again to do the next couple of ascents. It wasn't long until I hit my first 100km of ascending (jesus I was dead already). That meant I was at 175km right now, and the afternoon sun started to burn a little. I did another stop to put on some more sunscreen, didn't want another Tour of Thailand experience tonight. At first I was very happy with the sunny day, but in the heat of the late noon it really started to wear me out (it definitely wasn't the amount of cycling I had to do ).
With energy fading away I started to fuel myself with food more frequently, often grabbing something my father would hand me over on the turning point down the road. He's got potential to become a soigneur... (I hope he doesn't read this.). But damn, I was in a world full of pain starting the 10th ascent. To be honest, I would've done anything to swap my position out with the camping chairs of my parents and to read a book (how oldschool!) as they did. Instead I pushed myself, tried to go to the absolute limit. I think I was never as close to just quit a challenge as I was here.
Those guys, Buchmann, Gaimon and stuff who do those things are absolutely crazy. My count was at 11 hours now and I still had over 40 kilometers of climbing to do. On the descents I refused to do any pedalling, just somehow survive on the bike.
The one thing that kept me going was my pride. At some point I was fine with accepting that I couldn't do it, that I neither have the stamina nor the power necessary to go all the way. I even was willing to give it up in front of my parents, despite all their support would've been for nothing if I did so. But damn, if even Durasek comes to join me on a ride, if so many of my fellow countryman got on the roads to ride with me I HAVE to do it. Durasek was here. Potocki. Rado. This outgrew a challenge I would do for myself at this point. This was a challenge, in which I represented my country, and also my sport towards my country. One or two guys from local newspapers were down at basecamp when I came down at some point - if I recognized the logos on their bags correctly from distance. What should they write? "Young guy from Zapresic attempted to do the "Everest challenge" and came close of making it?" That's not an option. "The Viper is the first ever Croatian to tame the Everest challenge." That's more like it. So many Instagram stories, so many good wishes, the support of Sapura to make me attempt it (they had some sort of ticker on Twitter). This could not be all for nothing. It wasn't ajust a challenge anymore, it was a duty to so many people that had their faith in my to finish it. So I gave it my all.
It was six o'clock now and and I felt absolutely miserable. If you do road cycling yourself: Do you know that feeling when your legs can't decide whether to constantly cramp at every paddle or just feel completely empty and float away? Well after the 12th ascent I was at a point where I had surpassed this stage, I was just not feeling anything at all. That was also the point where I was really in danger, as I almost crashed into a car in a corner when I was descending back down. At this point I was barely able to hold my had up straight, and if any doctor would've been observing my ride he would've 100% told me to stop. Also traffic became more of a problem. The road wasn't too busy for most of the day, but the top Sljeme is a popular spot for evening activities, so I had to somehow make sure I can go up safe again. Many car drivers were supportive, many even cheered me on as they must havfe recognized I was onto something (basecamp down the road may have been the cause). But then again, there were some black sheep in the mix as well, I've never ever had a day I was honked at that often, and then there were some people overtaking me on the descent and then breaking in the next corner in a manner that I had to slow myself down as well to not crash into them. Ignorant f***ers.
After the 12th descent I took another 10 minute break as I just couldn't do pedalling anymore, stuffed myself with some Bananas and Glucose bars (despite my earlier over-eating issues) and went on to try it again. I somehow survived climb 13 and the descent and then went on to do the final climb. Down the road they had made it a wrap at basecamp, hopped on to the car and drove their way up. 4 of my former teammates from the local club (Shoutout to Smuceki Zapresic) joined me, though riding in behind as drafting obviously wasn't allowed. Though it wouldn't have made any difference at my snail-like speed, creeping up the climb at the lowest of gears. None of those guys were any close of even competing for wins in amateur races, but they could keep up with me with ease, which says a lot about my condition there. Their support gave me a lot of strength tough. Also: If I would crack now in front of them that would've made it even more embarrassing. I had to push through!
And somehow I pushed on. There were like 3 cars, the one of my parents and some friends from the region, kind of shielding me from any traffic from behind. The car drivers behind them must've had their worst nightmare going up that climb at like 10 km/h if they hadn't had a wide spot to overtake. But at this point neither did I care nor my awesome support. I just focussed on not cracking, and I did well. Until the last kilometer. This brutal part was the always going to be the dagger, it had two-digit percentages at some point.
But that wasn't going to stop me no more. Being this close made me smell some blood, and eventhough I could also definitely taste some blood in my mouth at this point I was pushing myself over the limit for one more time. Until I made it to the top!
yes I'm using that gif again
I immediately went off the bike, laying down on the ground. People were were running towards me, celebrating. Even one of the guys from the newspaper had a camera and took a shot of me in that very moment. One last effort went to a big time scream of joy, enjoying the triumph, then I closed my eyes. I often say it, but rarely it was as true as at this moment: I had absolutely nothing left. Of course I would've liked to hug my parents and all my supporters for all the things they've done to support me, for the time they spent with me, but I just couldn't. On the one side there was Corona. I mean, Corona wouldn't have stopped my from doing so, but my body refused to do anything but to lay down at this point.
But then there also was the strange feeling of wanting to blind all my senses from the world outside of my pain at this point. It may sound rude, and you maybe don't understand it, but I needed a moment just to be alone. I could feel the the judging eyes, despite not seeing them. The world around me was expecting me to be a hero, to celebrate my achievements with them. But I felt like I wasn't ready to do so. In this moment the spotlight, the attention was more of a burden than a blessing for me. I am just a normal guy who has some talent for riding his bike. Do I really feel like a hero? Do I want to feel like the world (around me) expects me to feel at this point? Do I want to be the person, do the things that the people around me expect to do in a situation like this?
I started crying. The people around me surely were confused. Was I crying of joy, of pain, over other feelings? It must've been strange for those, but so it was for me. Cause I couldn't answer the question myself. But freeing the emotions also released the pressure of myself. After the short moment of awkwardness I could catch the gravity of the moment for me, my family and my supporters a little bit better. Eventhough feeling slightly uncomfortable, the joy of having achieved everything outweighed the burden of the moment and the spotlight it brought with it. I could enjoy the next half an hour, when we just sat together uptop Sljeme, enjoying the beautiful evening sun over the valley and rewarded ourselves with loads of icecream and a HUGE burek.
In the aftermath I took slightly more than 13 hours to finish the everest challenge. Yes, guys like Buchmann took almost only half of the time, even Cav was much faster indoor. But I am proud of myself. It took my 337,6 Kilometers to climb the Sljeme climb 13 and a half times and go down the same way. 4 months ago I would've never ever thought that this is possible for me. Now I can tell you that it is.
Great episode, really enjoyed it. Super proud of Saso, amazing day's riding and an absolutely insane effort, I love it
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Wow, I'm knackered from just reading about this insane effort. Excellent work croatia, and well done Saso! You surely picked up new fans plus some nice publicity.
as you may have noticed, I haven't talked to you in a while. Well, time flies these days while I'm preparing for Sibiu Tour. They've postponed their race, which is s shame cause I really wanna get going again. Also another big target of ours, the Tour of Quinghai Lake, has been cancelled due to a new Covid19-outbreak. We can't do anything about it though but look forward.
But Sibiu will be a much bigger race than initially expected! Some of the bigger names are on the startlist and I surely expect a tough race. Bora has the big boys lined up, Ackermann and his sprint train with Kämna and Konrad. UAE will be there, Alpecin, Israel have a couple of good guys. Androni, Nippo, Gazprom, Bardiani, Vini with Visconti and then a couple of really good CT guys as well. That's going to be a rough ride.
I'll be well prepared though, that's what I can tell you. Lately I've been working on the climbs, and I feel quite well going into the final preperation. I'll get there a bit earlier to have some rides with Cris and Sergei, and things seem to be going in our way yet. Sergei has been 3rd in 2015, but reaching the podium will be much harder this year. We're confident of being a competitive force though, don't count us out!
With such big names there, it will be quite the experience for Saso to race there. Probably means a good result will be tough, but adds a little motivation to training to see how he can match up against them.
Guys, you know what? I'm more and more excited about the Sibiu Tour. My preparations are going well at the moment, and just as I've read today Mathieu van der Poel will be there! Never ever would I've dared to dream riding against him this year last winter.
What's even more important: Matt recently contacted me and told me how impressed he is by my level of output on the road recently. I guess he can read the watts better than me, but I do feel strong right now, that is true. I don't know if I told you yet, but with Cris and Serghei training over there I'll be heading to the Sibiu region a couple of days early, trying to get some rides in on Balea Lac and the region surrounding. Also I've heard that they have some really nice food and vampires there, which is quite cool.
On another note: I've recently seen some very surprising support lately. There's been elections in Croatia recently, and one of the candidates promised some big investments, including some sort of sports funding for young talents of the nation. Most of which will go into football and handball anyway, but there is also some individual funding, and my ride in China last year seemed to have help me to get some sort of share of the cake, even if it's only some spare crumbs. I won't tell you if I'd vote for that guy (annd know I guess you know whether I would or not...), but this is an idea I unsurprisingly like. Let's hope he's not a true politician and fulfills his promises. Get that cash in...
And I don't like that my use of the hot dog question has left the impression this is a Kiwi debate - that's not even what a hot dog is in NZ 
).
