Il Tour of Langkawi, which ended today (yesterday for those reading, ed.) closed the 2022 racing season. The riders are returned to Malaysia After a two-and-a-half-year hiatus due to the pandemic, it was the last race of the season. in a year characterised by the continuous race for points in the UCI rankings, the field of riders was very largeOne of the teams that went to race in Malaysia with great prospects and also brought home three victories is theAlpecin Deceuninck. One of the successes was signed by Jakub Mareczko.
Jakub, a great win to end the season on a high note…
Yes, I'd say so. We came to this Tour de Langkawi with a very competitive team. There were guys like Bax who won the Agostoni Cup before Valverde, and Taminiaux who raced the Vuelta and was in excellent condition.
It is no coincidence that the other two victories came from these two athletes.
Absolutely, our goal, like that of many other teams, was to come here and achieve success. We did it despite there being many teams equipped to do well., ready to take the last remaining points for the UCI ranking.
A week-long stage race so far from Europe had been missing for a while.
These are not easy trips, to be sure. We left four days early, on October 7th. The journey was very long: first I went to Brussels, destination Amsterdam to travel with the whole teamThen we took a direct flight to Singapore and as our last stop we reached Kuala Lumpur. It was a long and demanding ride, but These are the last tasks before the holidays, so you grit your teeth and get them done..
This was your third victory of the season, even though the schedule wasn't top-notch.
Well, I have to say that in recent years the level has risen a lot everywhereThere are no more simple races. I had my chance to do WorldTour races at Line of Business and then in Poland, but for one reason or another it didn't go wellI was coming off a bad crash in Turkey at the Giro and was out of shape, while in Poland the whole team had to withdraw due to Covid. A little bit of bad luck also added to the mix.
How did you find your first year at Alpecin?
I immediately felt very comfortable, even in terms of communication within the team. The trainer lives in Italy and speaks Italian very well and the manager also speaks our language very well. Furthermore, as in all teams, we almost always speak in English.
In terms of training and preparation?
We are constantly monitored and followed. The only problem, but we haven't yet fully understood the reason, was after the ZML Tour, in June. I had a break from racing and went to altitude to work for 4 weeks, but once I returned, I couldn't perform as well as I expected. My condition has only improved in these last few races.
Next year the team will move up to the WorldTour. Do you think anything will change?
I don't think so. The team was already invited via wildcard to all the competitions. So, honestly, I don't expect any major differences from what we did this year. At a calendar level, the idea of approaching racing will change, but I'm not convinced about it.Because even here in Malaysia, with promotion already secured, we came to win.
Now you're going home and will there be rest for you too?
We're leaving Kuala Lumpur tomorrow evening (today for those reading this, ed.). The team has already given us a schedule. We'll have a two-week complete break and then we'll start pedaling again at the beginning of November. We will have our first retreat in December.
