Luke Rowe discovers the brutal side of cycling as DS and reveals the big Decathlon goal: "What I get out of bed for"

Luke Rowe waved goodbye as a rider in 2024 and has been a DS for the Decathlon team since this year. In his new role, the 35-year-old former rider got to know a new, brutal side of cycling, although with the French team he has a very clear goal in mind. One that he says he gets out of bed in the morning for.

"The worst thing about being DS, and I never thought about this as a rider, is that you're in the car, you're driving ... and you hear a crash on the radio," Rowe begins his story to Rouleur Live. "You think: I hope this is not one of us, and if you don't hear your name, you ignore the crash."

The reality then is simple, as brutal as that sounds. "Every cyclist who has fallen and is not seriously injured gets back up, gets on their bike, and if their bike is OK, they ride away. So by the time you pass the crash, every cyclist that's still there is injured," Rowe knows. "And it's like if it's somebody's son, husband ... whoever it is, then you think, that's a poor guy and he's in a lot of pain."

As the Welshman said, he did not yet realise that when a was a pro cyclist. "I had never thought about that, and when you ride through it, all you see are grown men, in a lot of pain, sometimes unconscious, bleeding, broken bones ... that's the worst," the former rider alludes to the rock-hard sport that cycling can also be.

Cycling, then, is a sport of of contrasts, Rowe observes. "When you compete in races, are part of races that are won, that's great, it's a success. But then when you see the other thing ... it's like someone's little boy is down there and he's all upset, and that's what I hate," the former rider points out the contrast.

Because on the other side of the line, for example, there are victories. Sometimes special victories, but the most special one is still missing on the Decathlon team. So Rowe makes it clear that a victory in a Monument is the absolute goal for him on the French team.

"No two days are the same," says the DS about it. "It really motivates me. I'm really into the Classics part of it. The team has been around for 34 years and in the five Monuments, our best results ever are three second places and two third places. We've never won a Monument, but that's super motivating."

So he wants to do that with Decathlon CMA CGM, as the team is called from 2026. Rowe could also have gone to another team. "I could also have stayed with INEOS.... but if I could join this team and make a small difference to do something good, and if we could win a Monument after five podium finishes in 34 years.... for me, that's just what I get out of bed in the morning for."

So how Decathlon plans to win a Monument? "There's a long list. There is equipment, and recruitment is of course the most important thing," Rowe laughs. "If we could contract Mathieu van der Poel tomorrow, we would have a great chance of winning a Monument. But that's the easy way, and that's the expensive way," he sounds more realistic.

And so Rowe and Decathlon CMA CGM are taking a more systematic approach. Patience seems to be a virtue in this regard, though there does seem to be a plan for a structured approach. "To me, it's like we have a mission. When can we achieve this? How can we achieve this? And let's just slowly work toward it," Rowe concludes.