Kurt Bogaerts may be a product of Belgian cycling but he’s been an influential figure in Irish cycling for about 15 years. He may now, however, be lost to the Irish scene having joined Ineos Grenadiers on the management staff.
The 43-year-old was the main man in the team car at the
Irish Continental team An Post-Chainreaction, which he ran with Sean Kelly for
over a decade.
During that period he also managed Irish teams at major
international championships and even when An Post-Chainreaction ceased
operations, Bogaerts continued his involvement with the national team.
When it became clear An Post-Chainreaction was not coming back – because of the very challenging sponsorship market – Bogaerts was soon snapped up by Trinity Racing.
And while that team is a British-based outfit there is
more than a touch of Irish flavour; the team owned by Irish cycling agent
Andrew McQuaid. It also features Irish riders like Ben Healy, Finley Newmark
and Matthew Devins.
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At Trinity, Bogaerts worked very close with Tom Pidcock –
offering the young Briton his expertise across MTB, cyclocross and, of course,
road.
And now that Pidcock has signed for Ineos Grenadiers –
and makes his debut for the team today in France – Bogaerts also decided to
take up an offer from the team to join its management staff, with a particular
focus on its young riders.
“I was a cyclist myself, and then I stopped because of an injury in my back, after that I started the academy, together with Sean Kelly, and we built it up into a continental team, An Post-Chain Reaction; I spent 12 years there,” Bogaerts said in an interview on the Ineos Grenadiers site to mark his arrival at the team.
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However, while moving to Ineos Grenadiers would be
considered a dream move by most – especially by someone working in cycling
management in such an uncertain economic climate – Bogaerts said he took his
time to consider the offer before taking it.
“I don’t have the ambition to make my own team again, so
it’s a challenge for me too coming into the team, that’s a big thing for me,” he said.
“It’s such
a big team. From the outside, you see a team that’s won the biggest races for
so many years, but once you’re inside the team, there’s a lot of smart people.
“And
there’s a real enthusiasm to work together. It’s a nice feeling, you really see
people caring for each other. It’s definitely a bit different to what I thought
it was going to be.
“There’s a lot already working well, but there are always opportunities to explore different ways where something might be able to function better. It keeps coming back to this word ‘adventure’, I feel like I have an exciting one ahead of me.”
He added that
when working with Pidcock the mental aspect of the sport was just an important,
maybe more important at times, as coaching and sourcing the right equipment.
“For example, in cyclocross in the pits there would be
five mechanics, and when Tom was back in the camper post race he’d look out the
window and say, ‘All these people are here for me and I didn’t perform,’”
Bogaerts said.
“So I would say to him: ‘As long as you can look yourself
in the mirror and say that you did the maximum you could, you don’t need to
feel guilty, these people are out there because they want to be here’.”
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