YAS ISLAND, United Arab Emirates (VN) — On Sunday, and in pit lane of the Yas Island Formula One motor racing circuit, Lars Michaelsen and Tristan Hoffman stood side by side as Tinkoff team sport directors for the last time. There was lament, but as the Abu Dhabi Tour came to an end in the evening under the lights, it was not so much because they will be heading to different teams next year — Michaelsen to Astana and Hoffman to the new Bahrain – Merida team. It was for the circumstances that led to their separation — the disbanding of their team and the end of a 19-year era.
The fourth and final stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour, 143 kilometers made up of 26 laps of the 5.5km Yas Marina circuit, signaled the final race for the Oleg Tinkov-owned Russian team that this year had a roster of 27 riders and 45 staff members and included management, sport directors, trainers, mechanics, soigneurs, medical specialists, and administration workers.
Before the stage start, Tinkoff riders in the race — including Spaniard and seven-time grand tour winner Alberto Contador — and staff gathered for a final photo to capture the moment.
Sure, other teams also posed for group shots, but that was to sign off for another season. For Tinkoff, it was to mark its fate, a fate that was signed and sealed last December when Tinkov announced he would pull out. As they posed for the photo with sentimental smiles, all knew that the team was one race from being confined to cycling history for good. And for that, a sense of sadness understandably struck Michaelsen and Hoffman, who share a long association with the team that began in 1998 as Home – Jack & Jones and then became Memory Card – Jack & Jones before morphing into CSC – Ticsali, CSC, CSC – Saxo Bank, Saxo-Bank – SunGard, Saxo Bank, Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank, Saxo – Tinkoff, Tinkoff – Saxo, and then finally Tinkoff.
Michaelsen’s time goes back to the ownership years of Bjarne Riis that started in late 2000 and continued into the years of Tinkov, who bought the team from Riis in December 2013 (after which Riis left in March 2015 due to differences with Tinkov). Michaelsen tallied 11 years with the team as a rider and sport director.
Hoffman’s roots go back 17 years, but after a number of years spent on other teams his time with the Tinkoff franchise totals 10 years.
“It’s a chapter coming to its end, a whole book coming to its end,” said Michaelsen, a Dane who rode on the team from 2003-2007 and then worked on it as a sport director in 2008 and 2009 and from 2013 when it was named Saxo Bank to its end as Tinkoff on Sunday.
“I have been with this structure [for] five years as a rider, six years as a sport director. It is … not a sad moment, but a moment that you think about … I have been part of building the [team] structure and now it just kind of evaporates. Like every other team stopping, we are splitting up and looking for new challenges. It’s also healthy to see some other things.”
For Hoffman, a Dutchman, his timeline begins when he rode on Memory Card – Jack & Jones in 2000 and then wore the CSC jersey from 2001-2005. He also became a sport director in 2005, a position he held on the team in 2006 and returned to it in 2014 and held until now.
“It is a shame that it stops. This is something special,” Hoffman said before Sunday’s stage. “I am very happy that I have found a team and that 90 percent of the team have found a job because we have good people. The other 10 percent, I hope they find their way.”
From the memories to looking ahead
The Tinkoff team had no plans for a last celebration after Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Tour finale.
The squad had already recently held a celebratory swansong in Milan attended by Tinkov, but without Contador who instead became the public target for Tinkov’s wrath.
“We will not have anything official. Of course we will have a glass,” said Michaelsen, adding that he had not heard from Tinkov in the team’s last days, not that he expected to. Michaelsen said he still has good relations with both Tinkov and Riis. “They could not work together. That is how it is. I am loyal to my boss. I was loyal to Bjarne Riis as well as Oleg.
“I have had my moments with Oleg, good and bad. I respect Oleg and he respects me.”
Asked if he could pinpoint a number of stand out highs with the team, Michaelsen said: “It is hard. My final five years of 14 years as a professional I spent in this team. There were high moments winning by myself or helping other teammates to win. That cannot be cut down to only three moments. As a sport director I have had my wins, or been on the winning team.”
Michaelsen could not help but cite the rise of world road champion Peter Sagan as a high. “This year I have been with Mr. Sagan when he won Ghent-Wevelgem, which I won myself as a rider [in 1995]. Then he won Flanders in a superb way,” Michaelsen reflected.
However, Michaelsen points out that it is not just the wins that matter most. His memory is as rich of the offseason team bonding adventures during Riis’s years that ranged from boot and survival camps to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro — as any success by the team during the season.
“That [survival camp story] still comes up when we are having dinner,” Michaelsen said with a laugh. “I remember we went to Norway in the ski challenges we had there. Once, we had to sleep outside, somebody forgot to put firewood on the oven … all these stories. I could continue with these experiences. It was fantastic. We did it with many of the same people.”
Happy to look ahead was Contador, unsurprisingly with his strained relations with Tinkov.
The Spaniard will be riding for Trek – Segafredo next year, but finished the Abu Dhabi Tour — and his last race in the Tinkov strip — with an eye on 2017, pleased that he had a strong ride in Saturday’s third stage to the mountaintop finish of Jebel Hafeet, where he placed fifth.
“I’m happy with my result,” Contador said after Estonian Tanel Kangert (Astana) won the stage to take the red leader’s jersey he defended on Sunday’s stage won by Briton Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data). “After the Vuelta [a España] when I started to train for [Il] Lombardia, I was sick and couldn’t go to Lombardia, [then] I started training for this.”
Contador, who kept a low profile off the bike in Abu Dhabi and will now take a break of “20 to 25 days” before resuming training for next season, then smiled and quipped: “It’s good because if you finish here you have less time to put on more kilograms in the winter.”
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