In the first part of our interview, Lander told us about the feeling of finishing his first race in his BMC team kit, a feeling he’ll never forget. Another great moment for the young rider was the opportunity to join his team for one of the Grand Tours, the Vuelta a España, an opportunity he hadn’t seen coming being a first year pro.

 

Lander had one objective besides being the best asset possible for his team; to make it through his first Grand Tour ever. Unfortunately, he fell sick during stage 10 and looks back at it as being his hardest race, both mentally and physically, up to date.

 

”In my eyes, I was nothing but a big loser.”

 

”I knew from the very start of that race that something was wrong. I was extremely tired, but not just the usual fatigue you might feel after a tough stage race, I felt completely drained. Everyone rode as if they were being pursued by the devil and I had no chance. I got dropped with another 30-35 riders or so and after a while we caught the peloton, but then we hit the mountains and at that point I was grilled. I had nothing. I couldn’t even pick up my phone after the race to talk to my parents or my girlfriend who called to hear how things had gone. It was a struggle just to sit up straight. I was just sitting there, staring into space.”

 

It turned out Lander had a slight fever, 38.5 degrees to be exact, but he still decided to do the time trial the next day and ended up placing 183 out of 185 riders. He made the time limit and decided to go yet another stage, fighting his body for all he had to make it through the prestigious race. However, after finishing the 12th stage of the Vuelta a España, a stage Lander describes as pure hell, it was decided to take him out of the race and send him back home to recover. 

 

The Vuelta a España turned out to be not only his greatest experience in 2013, but also his biggest disappointment and it’s a race he looks back at with mixed feelings.

 

”It was the greatest honour being given the opportunity to do the Vuelta and I wanted nothing more than to make it to the final stage and cross that finish line. That moment when they told me they were sending me back home just left me feeling empty. I’d been given lots of credibility earlier in the race for my performance and the work I’d done, but I just thought ’To hell with it. It doesn’t matter now’. It’s easy to forget to take the good things with you back home when you feel like the biggest disappointment there is. I never do anything half way; I always do it 110%, so not being able to follow through was really hard on my confidence and self-esteem. I knew it was a decision made to protect me from total collapse, but in my eyes I was nothing but a big loser.”

 

”At this point my results say nothing about me as a rider.”

 

Separating one’s self-esteem from one’s results can often be a struggle and being new amongst the pros has made this an important matter for Lander. After going from winning races in 2012 to not being able to win a single race in 2013 it’s been crucial for him to remind himself about his achievements rather than his results.

 

”I’ve always raced to win, but I’m not strong enough to fight for a win at the moment so I have to build my confidence and my motivation on what I accomplish for others and on how I keep pushing my own limits. I give everything I have for my team mates and I take great pride in that. That’s where I get my satisfaction. I make a difference whenever I can. I’m training harder than ever before; I’m thinner than ever before. I stay in control of what I can control and I do it 110%. Sure, there are days when even the sprinters manages to hang on on a decent climb and I’m thinking ’What?! I can’t even go with the sprinters?!’, but that’s when you have to be good at adjusting your way of thinking.”

 

Lander comments on the fact that his best result in 2013 is a 14th place at the second stage of Tour de Wallonie with a smile and a shrug.

 

”At this point my results say nothing about me as a rider. You might see me on Eurosport sitting in the peloton or being dropped and think I’m a shitty rider, but maybe that day I actually had diamond legs and did the best work I’ve ever done for my teammates.”

 

Gilbert’s second place on stage 7 at the Vuelta a España has great value for Lander and he tells us about it as an example of what he just said.

 

”I went all in for him, but had nothing left with 15 kilometres to go. Our DS was yelling in the radio ’Go Gilbert! Just keep on going Gilbert!’ and I just thought ’How is it possible to still have enough energy left to keep going?!’ But that’s the difference. The riders on that level have that extra energy left and that’s where I want to be one day, but I’m not there yet and getting there will take some time. I did what I could for as long as I could and after the race Gilbert gave me a hug and told me I’d done a fantastic job for him. Those are the moments no one else sees, but they matter to me.”

 

”What a wonderful life”

 

Staying on the topic of great moments of 2013, Lander’s got quite a few in mind, but there’s one experience topping the rest, the Norwegian stage race Arctic Tour of Norway.

 

”It’s hands down the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to. The whole experience was absolutely amazing. The race, the organisation, the nature and just the whole vibe coming from the riders. Everyone was just happy to be part of such a beautiful race.”

 

The riders were taken by plane to their different start locations and Lander remembers his exact feeling when seeing Norway’s beautiful landscape from above.

 

”I just thought ’What a wonderful life’.”

 

Lander happily shares some of his private photos with us, since he’s finding it hard to describe the beauty he was so amazed by.

 

Evidently, Thor Hushovd’s overall victory added to the experience and Lander has nothing but kind words to say about the Viking from Norway.

 

”Any win for Thor just gets magnified having in mind that he’s a great person. You really want to sacrifice everything out there for him. He’s a good man.”

 

The Viking’s personality isn’t the only thing Lander admires about him. If he could choose any career to have as his own, he’d choose Hushovd’s.

 

”He’s this Viking who just keeps on going. A cool man on and off the bike.”

 

Hushovd won the U23 Paris-Roubaix, but Lander would like to step it up a notch adding a victory of the pros’ Paris-Roubaix to that career. Having an idea that The Tour of Flanders would probably suit him better, Paris-Roubaix is still the dream with a capital D.

 

”I need to just say ’Thanks’ and go seek my own glory.”

 

Although it’s a confident man sitting in front of me sipping his coffee while talking about winning Paris-Roubaix, there have been moments when his confidence abandoned him and looking back, Lander wishes he had displayed a greater level of self-confidence and guts.

 

”I’ve been given a few chances of my own this year [2013], but I’ve only fully gone for one of them, which resulted in my best result so far, my 14th place”, Lander tells Cyclingquotes.com as he reflects back, trying to figure out what it was holding him back those other few times when opportunity knocked on the door. ”It’s hard because at that moment when they say ’It’s your turn now, Lander. Go for it.’ all you want to do is succeed and make them and yourself proud, but there’s something holding you back and I think that something is doubt. I’m not scared of taking a risk, but during a year when you’re not really racing to win yourself and there’s still so much strength to gain it sometimes leaves you doubting yourself. That’s something every athlete has to deal with at some point, but with experience both your mind and body grow stronger.”

 

Looking back at those moments of doubt, Lander realizes that they represent the biggest lessons learned in 2013 and that his mind and body indeed have grown stronger. He’s got no intentions repeating those moments going into 2014.

 

”It’s easy sometimes to just take the easy way out, to play it safe. You get scared and would rather help someone to victory than take your own chance and maybe end up doing something wrong. When I’m given a chance I need to just say ’Thanks’ and go seek my own glory.”

 

His motivation, eagerness and will to do well and please his team have sometimes made it hard for him to say ”Stop” when he feels he should’ve. Something he considers being both good and bad.

 

”I trust my trainer to the fullest, but in the end I’m the only one who really knows how I feel and I’ve learned the importance of speaking up and letting people know when you’re pushing yourself a bit too far and that’s an important responsibility of mine. It’s hard, because I want to do what I’m told. I once did 112 hours of training during one month and at the first race afterwards I was done after 20 kilometres. That wasn’t a good thing, of course, but sometimes you have to push it a bit too far to get to know yourself a bit better. It left me, my trainer and my team with a better knowledge about myself and where I was at. The reason I didn’t do well wasn’t because I hadn’t been serious about my training, quite the opposite. I had been dead serious and motivated and did what we thought was the right thing for me. Turned out it wasn’t and we all came out on the other side with new knowledge about me as a rider. I think the important thing in situations like this is that everything you do is done with a purpose.”

 

After reflecting on his lessons learned this past season, Lander still states that he’s got no regrets. There’s nothing he would’ve done differently.

 

”I’ve done everything 100%. I’ve done my training and I’ve fought hard every day.”

 

”I’m in a good place right now.”

 

Lander ended the season of 2013 with a feeling of ease and satisfaction and as he returned to Italy, sat down on his sofa back in Lucca enjoying a hot cup of coffee he could confidently claim that he made it through, living his dream.

 

”I just sat down and I thought ’Man, I did it. What a perfect life. I can go back home to Denmark now and enjoy a well-deserved vacation.’ Everything had fallen into place. I’d sorted out my apartment; I made it through the season and even got to do a Grand Tour.”

 

With the disappointing outcome at the Vuelta and after being involved in a crash, Lander says he couldn’t be happier about ending his season in a long break-away covering 180 kilometres at the Paris-Tours, giving him a well needed ego boost.

 

”I ended the season feeling strong and I needed that. It’s been a good year, but I still felt disappointed about the Vuelta, so Paris-Tours was perfect. I’m in a good place right now.”

 

In the third and final part of our Lander interview we’ll talk about what really matters…

 

“I’m the kind of guy you either love or hate”.

 

To be continued…