Max Sciandri – from pro star to star maker

July 10, 2009; By Larry Hickmott

Talking to the riders on the Under 23 Men's Endurance Academy, I found they all appreciate how good Italy is for racing and training. “Perfect” is how Peter Kennaugh described it.

One of the people responsible for the Academy being where it is, is Max Sciandri. winner of well known races such as  GP Pino Cerami,  GP de Fourmies, Coppa Placci, Wincanton Classic (World Cup), GP de Fourmies, and Giro del Lazio as well as stages in the Tour of Italy and Tour de France.  

With Rod Ellingworth having moved on this year to new goals within team GB, responsibility for the Academy in Italy became Max Sciandri’s and with that came a new approach to developing the riders.

A few months on and the Under 23 riders have rewarded that approach with some excellent results which stretch beyond what is on the result sheet but extend to the teamwork that goes to help make the results of one or two individuals possible.

Not just those of Peter Kennaugh but those of other riders like Luke Rowe. “I wanted to keep the approach very simple” Max told me in the GB hotel in Belgium where we all were for the European Road Championships. “I wanted to make them feel responsible for their own actions.”

“I said to them, ‘it’s about you guys and if you mess up, you mess up for yourself, your family, your friends, British Cycling and for me’. That is what they have to learn. I then gave them a little tolerance to make a mistake because they are young guys. When you take them away from home, put them in a big house with a group of others where perhaps their roommate is not best suited to them, you have to give them time before applying pressure on them to work. They need that initial period to find their feet.”

“At the start of the year, I had a picture of how the season would be until the European championships more or less. I felt you can’t go to every race and put pressure on them. They have to learn and because they give you so much feedback, they’ll tell you when they want to race, when it’s time to go and when that time arrives, you have to back them up and push them and they’ll give you 110 per cent.”

The 100% ME team with the riders based in Italy for the Olympic Academy, sign on at the British Road Race championships in June. L-R: Jonny McEvoy, Alex Dowsett, Erick Rowsell, Luke Rowe, Andy Fenn, Steven Burke, Mark Christian and Peter Kennaugh.

“We went into the Tour of Region Friuli with no pressure. We did target one day where Peter was 5th or 6th on a really hard stage. We then backed off and he had his time sitting on the back of the group and I put some one with him. Helping them to learn to move around the peloton together like professionals. Then, in the next race, there was more pressure and Peter was second overall until the last day. In that race, he learnt how to do four or five days under pressure and being up there on GC and then in the Baby Giro, he was fantastic.”

“Pete ended up with a really good result overall and a good stage win. The team rode really well. We had the youngest team in the Giro with four first year amateurs and two second year amateurs I couldn’t have asked for more and we nearly won it. At the Baby Giro, a lot of people were looking at us; how we prepared for time trials, how we shut down races, how we signed on, how we sat down together at the start for a coffee and so on”.

A new approach
Max explained that in 2009, there has been a new approach to managing and coaching the Academy riders in Italy. “Over the course of this year, I have given them the respect they deserve and got them to understand how I’d like them to race and train for me. I had a long career as a professional living in Italy and so I know the area, know the climbs and know the time of the year when you need to push on and when you need to back off. All that has helped me with the new job”.

“I am really enjoying the challenge and I think at the British (road race) championships you really saw a great team (100% ME). They moved really well for 18 year olds and we raced with Pete to win it and lose it on the line, nowhere else. It was confirmation that the team is working really well. We haven’t had lots of wins but we have had quality and we are very respected in the Italian peloton.”

Max is already looking ahead to next year when the Academy is expecting to have a new intake of riders from the junior programme, the ODP (Olympic Development Programme). “The most important thing is I’d like to give them a little bit of time in Italy before the racing starts next year”.

“I’d like to get them to Italy a little bit earlier depending on track commitments and get them to do some steady riding, get their bearings in their new home and learn how they buy their food and so on. We have to remember that for some, at home their mum has been cooking for them and when they come to Italy, they’ll have to cook for themselves and shop for the food without speaking a word of Italian. You have to let them grow and to get them to bond together.”

Ever since Max got involved with Team GB, he has continued to enjoy riding with the people he is working with.

Max is also a coach who likes to ride with them as he was doing in Belgium for the European championships. “When you’re training next to them and being a part of their  group - like a teammate – it helps a lot because they’ll open up. They’ll let go a little more about their feelings and you learn more about them as individuals.”

“I like to treat them as individuals such as sending them home for a break at different times like I pulled Luke (Rowe) out when he didn’t expect it and said to him, you’re going home for a break and he was thrilled. They are all different with different characteristics and you’ll find some are going to go well early season, some will go well later on, and so you need to treat them individually.”

Racing in Italy is not just about getting results as it’s a development programme for the riders, to prepare them for turning professional on the road and so to do that, the riders will find themselves being a team leader in one race, a ‘worker’ in the next and then perhaps rested for the next.

“Guys need to understand how racing works” Max says. “Getting bottles and keeping a  rider out of the wind for example. It is vital they learn these things and when they arrive at the start of the season, the guys are at different stages of that learning process.” 

Talking about the races the riders do in Italy, Max explained that the Italian Cycling Federation are quite strict on what races they can compete in. For example, a ‘national’ ranked race can only take one international team whilst a ‘regional’ level race cannot take any international teams.

“In Tuscany there are these races all the time but we are not allowed to participate in them” Max told me. “Only from the 15th of July to the Worlds can we do these races. So we do either national or international races where we’re racing against top competition. If it’s an international event for instance, then we’ll be racing against teams from the Ukraine, Russia, Australia and so on.”

For the coach and manager, Max Sciandri, looking after the Academy lads is a great challenge and one that he enjoys and loves with the same passion that he had for his racing when a professional cyclist. “What I experience directing these guys in races is really rewarding and has given me some great highs and disappointments too” he explains.

One of those disappointments was seeing his rider Peter Kennaugh forced to abandon the European Road Race championship but Max knows  that with the first part of the season over, bigger and more important challenges lie ahead, not just for him but his riders culminating in the World Road Championships. Right now, the riders are having a break and so is Max but in a few weeks, the hard work commences again as the build up for the season goals continue.

Related Article: Interview with Peter Kennaugh