Cycling is getting faster, better, more professional, but it comes at a cost: "The new generations have no life"

Tudor Pro Cycling's team is booming. The Swiss team, led by Fabian Cancellara, has been knocking on the door for a while and wants to make a major leap forward in 2025. With Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi, the team has brought in two absolute top riders for spring work. But that success also comes at a cost. Simon Pellaud has to leave, who sees it as a sign of a disturbing development.

Simon Pellaud, for example, has to leave Tudor. The 33-year-old Swiss rider rode around the WorldTour earlier in his career with IAM Cycling and later Trek-Segafredo. At Tudor, he felt at home but is now forced to leave. "I understood that the scope of the project was changing and that we had to make room for the big guys," he says in conversation with Le Matin, referring to Alaphilippe and Hirschi's arrival.

"There are moments when I still cannot understand it. It felt bad to be pushed out because I didn't expect it. It felt like a slap in the face. But simultaneously, it feels like a burden has been lifted off me. It's 50-50." Pellaud is now without a team and must look for a new employer. "I still feel resentful, but I have accepted my fate. I remain on good terms with Tudor. Until the end, I was told that my work and personality were appreciated, that I was an important part of the group."

Read more below the photo!

Bob Jungels shares Pellaud's concerns: he sees that cycling life is taking a toll.

"Wonder if cycling is viable in the long run"

The change in his professional career puts the climber in a philosophical frame. "I sincerely wonder if cycling as it has become is viable in the long run. The level, the pace, the risks we take ... It's unbelievable. The daily life you must live to exist in the elite doesn't suit me. There are so many demands that there is no room for anything but cycling. The new generations have no life. I prefer to step down a level but still be competitive." Recently, Bob Jungels expressed the same concerns.

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