According to Naesen, Decathlon has "strength that other teams lack": "Things are tougher"

Decathlon became the owner of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale this summer, and ambitions skyrocketed. The team stated that it aimed to be among the top five teams, preferably among the top three, and, to cap it all off, win the Tour de France by 2030 at the latest. There is certainly no lack of ambition, and veteran Olivier Naesen explains why it is important to express those ambitions.

According to 35-year-old Naesen, a lot changed with the arrival of Decathlon. “It used to be much more like a family. You could still talk your way into the team, whereas now tough, business decisions are being made. Things are tougher, and that's not always easy, but it translates into results,” the Belgian told Het Nieuwsblad.

“Last year, Decathlon appointed a new CEO to the team, Dominique Serieys, a genuine businessman,” the veteran continued. “He took on that role with a specific end date in mind and wants to improve the team as much as possible during that period. When he joined the team, he said: ‘Last year, you won eight times, now we have to finish with more than twenty victories.’”

The team ultimately won thirty times. “With virtually the same core as the year before,” Naesen notes. ‘That opened our eyes: if we put performance first and don't cut any corners, it translates into results. You might think that openly expressing those ambitions puts an unhealthy amount of pressure on the guys, but I think it's a very good thing. Top-level sport is a different world.’

According to Naesen, the team's mindset has also undergone a complete change. “In the past, the team had to make ends meet. If we wanted certain components for the bikes, such as wheels, we would choose a particular brand because they paid extra on top of supplying those products. As a result, you sometimes ended up with a substandard product.”

With the arrival of Decathlon, this is now ‘totally impossible’, according to the Belgian. “If Decathlon calls that brand of wheels to sponsor the team, there’s a real chance that Decathlon will become that company’s biggest customer overnight, because they will then start putting those wheels on all their bikes in the shop as standard.”

“For that reason, that wheel brand is happy to give the team a few hundred wheels in exchange,” Naesen knows. Compared to others, that can be a huge advantage. “That's strength that other teams don't have,” says the veteran of the Decathlon team, which, according to the French newspaper L'Équipe, will have a budget of more than forty million euros next year.

The language used within the team has also changed, from French to English. This is yet another example of the professionalization of the cycling team. “The team wanted to get rid of that French reputation to be attractive to foreign riders. Not that there's anything wrong with French per se, but it can be a limiting factor when it comes to attracting good riders.”

Naesen gives an example. “A few years ago, Brent Van Moer was close to joining the team, but he told me he didn't feel comfortable because his French wasn't good enough. Staff members still speak French occasionally, but when the boss is around, you shouldn't start speaking French. Which is actually a good thing, with all the Dutch riders joining the team,” the Belgian says with a wink.

The team has signed Olav Kooij, Cees Bol, and Daan Hoole. Naesen is very enthusiastic about the first of these. “He's only 24, but he's already a world-class sprinter. That guy doesn't even need to improve to win twenty races with the team's full support. That would be half the season already.”