Tour de Todd

Matisse Julien is originally from a town called Laval a city in Quebec, Canada. This season he's racing for the French team CIC U Nantes Atlantique. It's a continental team. So far he's raced the Grand Prix Cycliste de Marseille La Marseillaise, which is the traditional opener to the season in France. Plus, he just finished the Etoile Besseges stage race.

Julien is racing the Coup de France season long series along with U23 races and he may do some races like the Tour de l' Avenir and Worlds in Switzerland with the Canadian national team. He says he's expecting between 45-60 race days this season. Definitely expect him to be in peak form for the French race Tro-Bro Leon. 

Nice in France is his base at the moment. Julien says the training is awesome there. He's not far from the Alps and if he needs to hit the flats that's possible too. 

Julien started racing his bike around 11 years old. He says he was pretty good when he started. Between 16-17 years old he nearly won everything in Quebec. That's when he got approached by Hot Tubes Cycling team for juniors. He says one of his teammates at the time was Magnus Sheffield who's currently racing for INEOS Grenadiers. From there he rode for Premiertech U23 then Team Ecoflo Chronos for 2023 and now CIC U Nantes Atlantique. 

Julien says a good season for him would be some good results in class two races and a good national championships.   

Norman Alvis is a Sacramento, California native. He started out as an athlete running cross country. At the same time he rode a bike to and from school. After riding a friends race bike he was smitten. He say it was the adventure, the sensation of being on the bike and having something of his own that drove him. He won his first race solo. He says he did very well from the beginning. 

1981 he got his first look by the junior national team by having the teams coach spot him at a restaurant. He won the junior national time trial championship that year. After the 84 Olympic trials he was invited to the national team as an amateur. In 1987 Alvis won his first elite amateur national time trial championship. Then, in 1988 he made the Olympic team time trial team. A funny story he told me was his time racing the Tour of Morocco. If you get a chance ask him about the race. 

Eventually he turned pro for 7-Eleven and went to France. Alvis thanks Leonard Harvey Nitz for giving him Jim Ochowicz's number. His first race with the team was the La Jolla GP  which he won. His time in Europe was productive and hard. He would race the Tour, the Giro several times, and classics such as Paris Tours, Giro di Lombardia to Liege-Bastogne - Liege while riding for 7-Eleven and Motorola. 

By the 1995 season he was back in the states racing for Saturn. He would win the U.S. Pro Championship the same year. In 1997 Alvis won the Australian Sun Tour. In 1998 he retired from pro racing. 

Upon retiring Alvis went to school and got a degree in finance and marketing. He also started a family raising six kids. Alvis still had the competitive drive so he started racing masters races. He continues to win and has one of the best Instagram pages called "Crit Master." 

What you may not know is that he has multiple attempts at the hour record. But he actually still holds the hour record on an outdoor track. Cool thing though, he's planning to try it again.   

Let me say this first, I'm a history buff when it comes to cycling. I love learning about riders from the past, present, their stats, and who won what race when, where and how.  Willy Wauthle from the Netherlands helps me fulfill my fascination. He is one of the most captivating individuals I've ever met.  

Wauthle has one of the most comprehensive Facebook page on the history of cycling, with pictures of the greats from the past to the present. He never misses the opportunity to wish a rider a Happy Birthday or remember someone in death.

His Facebook page is only part of Wauthle's story. Here's where his life gets even cooler to me.  Wauthle recently retired as a motorcyclist for European races. I know all of you have seen the motorcycles buzzing by riders during a race or you've seen still photographers or TV camera people on the back of a motorcycle bringing you all the action in races. That was his job for over 40 years. 

Wauthle says he was there the day Fabio Casartelli died, he told me Guido Bontempi is a close friend, and he has a yellow jersey and bike from the GOAT, Eddy Merckx. 

Yoeri Havik and Jan-Willem Van Schip won the Madison World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland this year in fine fashion. To watch the race you would have seen a master class in how to race a Madison from start to finish.  

This interview took place in the middle of the Copenhagen 3 Day. Havik is riding his new white Koga with his signature bars. He looks cool.  We literally went through the Madison they won discussing tactics, their patience for moves, and keeping a cool head while under pressure. We discussed the Copenhagen race, his preps for the European Championships on the track coming up in January in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, and the Olympics to follow in Paris. 

Havik is in the full swing of the six day season. 

Riley Sheehan is dope. This young man won Paris Tours 2023. I don't know if you're familiar with the race but it's 213.9 km long and starts in Chartres and ends in Tours. The 2023 version started with 157riders. 

Sheehan started the race as a stagiaire for Israel Premier Tech World Tour Team.  He got a chance to join the team for a training camp at altitude in July. After that he joined the team to race starting August 1st. Sheehan got a general outline of the races he was going to do. Paris Tours was on the list. His first race with the team was the Maryland Classic. 

The day of Paris Tours Sheehan says he woke up read to go and super motivated. His role in the are was to help Tom Van Asbroeck and Giacomo Nizzolo to the gravel sections. He also had some freedom  to get into a break which he did. At 2 km he realizes he's in the winning break. He says he had to really focus on what's next. He was confident in his sprint. No cramps. Sheehan says the final 50 meters he's freaking out. He says he was expecting someone to pass him but no did. So he posted up with his hands in the air. Sheehan says he finished his season at the Japan Cup. 

This interview was done once Sheehan finished his around the world trip to get back home and had a few days to relax and rest. 

Angelo Furlan is a sprinting legend. In the early 2000's until 2013 Furlan was racking up big wins in the European cycling world. It was a time where Mario Cipollini, Alessandro Petacchi to Robbie McEwen were winning races at will. Furlan beat all three in races. 

Injuries in BMX is what led Furlan to road racing. Furlan raced BMX when Italy only had 10 tracks and about a thousand riders. He was no slouch whatsoever. He was European Champion, Italian Champion and he won more or less than 100 races.

During his road career he won races like stage 2 of the 2009 Criterium de Dauphine, 2 stages in 2002 Vuelta a Espana and stages in the Etoile de Besseges , Circuit de la Sarthe to the Tour de Serbia and Coppa Bernoochi. He finished his career in 2013 with Christina Watches - Ofone after riding for such teams as Alessio, Domino Vacant, Lampre to Credit Agricole.

Today at 46 years old Furlan runs his own cycling center "Angelo Furlan 360" with indoor cycling, coaching to bike fitting.  
  

Serghei Tvetcov is living with Leukemia. He was diagnosed with cancer in September 2022. He was racing with his Wildlife Generation Pro Cycling Team in the Tour of Romania when he got the results. He says he knew something wasn't right. Tvetcov simply couldn't put out the numbers he was used to doing. So he went and got tested. The test revealed he was living with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. He says the result were a kick in the head. For treatment he takes chemo directed pills twice a day. Every three months he has a genetic test that shows him his response to the meds. He says it's a cancer that's not curable rather it's something he'll live with for the rest of his life. 

Tvetcov says he plans to race in 2024. His plans include racing gravel and spreading a message of survival. He wants folks who have the same disease to know you can live and thrive while living with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. 

Also in this episode we also touch on his start in cycling, coming to America, racing in Italy, and France. And racing for the famous Gianni Savio. 

Henri Uhlig recently signed his first pro contract with Alpecin Deceuninck. For the past two years he's been riding for their development team. His season just ended after racing the famed Paris-Tours elite race. So, this interview takes place while he's on vacation. 

Uhlig told me he's not happy with the season he had. He feels there were way too many wins left on the table. His first race of the season was Gent Wevelgem U23. Uhlig says it was his best day on the bike. He got 3rd in that race.  Uhlig got his first win at the Province Cycling Tour in July on stage 3. He followed that up with another win in the Baltic Chain Tour in August on stage 2. He also won the youth and points classifications in that race.  

Uhlig's dad was a racer. He says they held him back from racing but eventually got him a mountain bike and then road bike. His first coach was his dad. He was extremely successful as a junior and amateur. He joined the German National Team when he was a junior. He rode for the Rad-Net Rose Team before joining the Alpecin Deceuninck Devo team. 

Uhlig says he's always wanted to go pro and signing his contract is a dream come true. He says he's ready to get back to training for the new season. 

  

It's been five years since Simon Gerrans retired from professional cycling.  2018 was his last season. Gerrans says it was a big transition leaving elite cycling. He says it forced him find a new purpose in his life, goals, and new ambitions. He says it wasn't easy so it forced him to stay busy. At first he did an internship at Goldman Sachs and currently he finds himself running "The Service Course," and doing some commentary on the Tour de France.

Gerrans grew up on a farm. It was the great Phil Anderson who helped, coached, and mentored him in the beginning of his cycling journey. He would leave for Europe at 19 years old to race for a small Italian amateur team. He would eventually end up in France. He turned pro in 2005 and wound up living in Monaco. 

Gerrans rode for teams like AG2R Prevoyance, Credit Agricole, Cervelo Test Team, Sky Pro Cycling, Orica GreenEDGE, Orica-Scott to BMC Racing Team. The wins in his career are plenty so I'm only going to mention a few. He won two stages in the Tour, one in the Giro, and one in the Vuelta. Classics? No problem, he won Milan San Remo and Liege Bastogne Liege. I think his most underrated win is his victory in the Melbourne to Warrnambool race in 2003.

At 43 years old Gerrans has a young family, he's back in Australia, and he's more than content with his legacy amongst the greats of cycling. 

Grant Koontz started racing a bike in his senior year of high school. He was diving and then jumped on a bike. The Houston, Texas native says his physical talents didn't mesh with football to basketball. 

By the time Koontz got to college he'd won a national time trial championship. He credits the riding community of Houston for giving him direction and guidance. He says several older riders taught him riding etiquette. 

Koontz got so good for 10 years he raced on the road. He eventually went pro and landed not the Holowesko - Citadel team for a season. 

In 2019 he went  to a national track camp. Koontz eventually went to T-Town to race and train. He ended up winning a National Championship in 2019 and 2021 in the team pursuit. Koontz killed at nationals in 2022 by taking titles in scratch race, points race, and the Omnium. He even won the scratch race at the Pan American Track Championships. 

This year he recently won the Madison Cup at T-Town. At the moment he's focused on racing in Europe this winter.