‘I need to learn everything again’ – Fresh from road retirement, Thomas De Gendt discusses next big two-wheeled challenge: a gravel racing debut

The first thing I can say about my first gravel race is – I need to learn everything again. But that’s actually really nice. In road cycling, I couldn’t really do anything for the first time anymore, as I’d done all the important races multiple times. So while it was always exciting to start a Grand Tour, it was less so when I had to start Paris-Nice for the 14th time.

Here, though, everything is new – even the riders. You’ve never seen most of them before as they were never in road cycling.