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The Sunday Interview - A conversation with Tyler Farrar

Published: Feb. 4, 2007
Farrar at this year's Cofidis presentation
Farrar at this year's Cofidis presentation
Photo: Agence France Presse

Welcome to a new and regular feature on VeloNews.com. Each Sunday throughout the race season we expect to be interviewing major players within the cycling community, from racers to team directors to race organizers and retired stars.

This first installation we catch up with Tyler Farrar, the up-and-coming sprinter/would-be classics specialist entering his second elite pro season with trademark enthusiasm and energy.

Of the new generation of Americans breaking in the European scene, Farrar’s enjoyed the highest profile. Even when racing among the espoirs ranks, he already had a pro contract with to race in the U.S.

The 22-year-old has more than lived up to expectations with stage victories in the 2004 and 2005 Tour de l’Avenir, respectively, as well as other wins on both sides of the Atlantic.

Known for his fast finishing speed, what Farrar really dreams about are the classics. Growing up in Wenatchee, Washington, where his father is a doctor, Farrar would dig through old magazines and videos to watch Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders.

This year, he’ll finally get a crack at the northern classics. His rookie year in 2006 with Cofidis was marred with visa problems and then an unfortunate crash in April that sidelined him for two months.

Putting those problems securely behind him, Farrar roars into the 2007 season with his sights set on the classics.

VeloNews asked Farrar about his expectations in his second year with Cofidis, on why he prefers living in Belgium, on the allure of Paris-Roubaix and why he was linked in a move to Discovery Channel. Here are excerpts from the interview:

VeloNews.com: So you’re settling into Ghent, but last year you were living with Saul Raisin in southern France, now you’re up in Belgium, why?

Tyler Farrar Fact File
Hometown: Wenatchee, Washington
Residence: France
Height: 6'0”
Weight: 158 lbs
Pro Since: 2003Career Highlights:(2005) 1st USPRO Criterium Championship(2005) U.S. U-23 World Championship Road Team Member(2004) 2nd USPRO Criterium Championship(2004) 1st U-23 National Time Trial Championship

Tyler Farrar: We’re going to live in Ghent, but our apartment won’t be available for another two weeks. The day after the Tour Med finishes, we can move in. Half of it is that I will be close to the classics that are the races for me. By living close, I can train on the courses and get to know them better. It will also be nice to be close to home during all the spring races. When I was coming through the espoirs ranks with the U.S. team, we lived in Belgium. It’s a nice place and we’re both comfortable in Belgium. We tried living in France last year and we realized that Belgium is more our speed.

VN.com: Why not live in Girona with most of the other ex-pats? What do you like about Ghent?

TF: Well, the main thing is to be close to the classics. When we decided last summer that we were going to move away from France, we spent a week in Ghent on vacation. That kind of sealed it for us. This city is great and there’s so much going on. We’re right in the center of town. There’s a university with a young population and a lot of activities. It makes it easy to find a place to eat.

VN.com: So how is your form coming into 2007? It won’t be long before you’re racing, so what are the top goals?

TF: I think the form is right where I’d like it to be right now. Cofidis is taking very serious the classics this year and I am one of the guys within the classics team. There are 10 guys who are picked to ride the classics and typically there are eight spots for each race. The sport directors will kind of rotate us younger guys in depending on who’s going good. It’s important to have good form coming into the season. As of now, I still have two weeks before my first race at Tour Mediterranean. So far, so good.

VN.com: So how is the rest of your schedule shaping up?

TF: It’s tentative, of course, but on paper I do Tour Med, then Haut Var, Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, Paris-Nice and then it’s hard-core into the classics. Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, Nokere-Koerse, Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, Ghent-Wevelgem and hopefully Paris-Roubaix if things are going well. After that, I am currently slated to do the Giro. That would be my first chance at doing a grand tour. I’m pretty happy with that schedule.

VN.com: Once the Giro is over, is the rest of your season more or less up in the air? The world’s again?

TF: I will ride the Giro form out for the next few weeks, I won’t be riding the Tour, so hopefully I will go back to the States for a month or so. Then I come back at the end of July for the late-season races and hopefully I can get into some of those weeklong, 10-day tours and get some results. We’ll see about the world’s. It’s a pretty hard race this year and that decision is up to USA Cycling. After that, I’d like to race the fall classics.

VN.com: So did you ever race the amateur Roubaix? How bad do you want to start the ‘Hell of the North?’

TF: I never rode the amateur Roubaix because the whole time I was with the espoirs I was also riding on a U.S. pro team and the amateur Roubaix was always in the middle of Philly week and I had to go back. I’ve ridden some of the sections of cobbles in different races, but riding a lot of portions isn’t the same as doing the entire race start to finish. That’s one of the races I’ve been dreaming about since I was a kid. It would be pretty cool to take a crack at Roubaix. Flanders isn’t on my schedule, but Ghent-Wevelgem is for sure. For Roubaix, I am keeping my fingers crossed. We have 10 guys on the short list and the directors will take whoever they feel at that point is up for it. I’d loved to get in there.

VN.com: Why do you love the classics so much? Most Americans grow up dreaming of the Tour?

TF: I started really following bike racing when I was 12-13, looking at magazines, watching the videos, and I was always fascinated by the classics because they’re so hard. Of course, the Tour is nothing compared in terms of difficulty. In the classics, it’s all in one day. There’s no tomorrow in the classics. Especially in a race like Paris-Roubaix, with bad weather, the riders covered black with mud, just riding through it all, the cobbles. When you’re a kid, that just seems so crazy.

VN.com: Last year, you could never quite get on track for the classics after crashing at Circuit de la Sarthe?

TF: First I had my visa problems and then I only raced for about three weeks before I busted my collarbone at Sarthe. My spring last year was a bit of a write off. I came around at the end of the season and the team is hoping I can build on that.

VN.com: Remind us again of the visa problems you had?

TF: There were some paperwork delays for about four of us non-EU riders and they hadn’t accepted our work visas. Someone from the team called the French work ministry to check up on them and they said, ‘wait, if they’re at the training camp, that means they’re working in France without a necessary permit.’ So four of us got deported last year. I was slated to do the Tour of Qatar and I had to leave the training camp and I didn’t come back until March 1. I ended up missing more than a month of racing. This year it’s all lined up so there shouldn’t be a problem.

VN.com: And then you crashed and broke your collarbone, how long did it take for you to get back to Europe again?

TF: I crashed the same stage that Saul (Raisin) had his big disaster. It took two months and a surgery to get through that, so that was a bit of a bummer. I started racing again in late May and did a few short stage races in June. In Europe there’s not a lot of racing in July if you’re not in the Tour, so I hung out in France and did some training in the mountains. Then in August and September they raced me like crazy to make up for missing the spring.

VN.com: What were the results you were most proud in your rookie year?

TF: I was fifth at Tour du Poitou Charentes [in August] and also a top-10 at Circuit Franco-Belge, but for me the biggest rides were at Paris-Tours and the world championships when I made the early breaks in both of those events. They were not results to put on paper, but that made the season for me.

VN.com: How do you think your experience of getting through your first year as a pro should help in 2007?

TF: After having done one year, I will know what to expect. Last year, I really didn’t even know what racing was about at this level. Now I know and that makes a big difference, knowing what’s coming. I am feeling pretty good about this year and I have some pretty ambitious goals. Hopefully things will come together.

VN.com: How do you define success? Working for the team or going for a win?

TF: You pick up results wherever you can. There are about 100 guys in every race who think they can win that day. With Cofidis focusing on the classics with Nick Nuyens on the team, I want to be there to contribute to that effort. Also, it will be important for me to finish the Giro. I think it would be pretty nice to finish my first grand tour. After that, we’ll see. It would be nice to win a race this year.

VN.com: What was the thing that impressed or surprised you most racing at the pro level?

TF: When you do your first ProTour race, it’s just crazy. My first one was at the Vattenfall Classics, about 265 kilometers and we were just going so fast in that first hour, you have to adapt to it. You just can’t believe you’re going that fast. And then when you’ve been going flat out for one hour, you realize someone has actually gotten away. You’re already at your limit and then some guys have gotten away, it’s just amazing.

VN.com: So did you finish?

TF: I rode the distance, but I got dropped with about 25km to go and I was directed off course. By the time I got to the hotel I think I ended up riding 280km. I was just so lost in Hamburg. After that I did Tour of Germany, my first ProTour stage race, and that was a good experience for me. I did okay and it’s a brilliant race with great spectators, good hotels, good organization.

VN.com: One final question, your name was linked to joining Discovery Channel and even showed up on some unofficial list? Were you close to joining them for this season?

TF: I was just as surprised as everyone else. I was at the Cofidis team presentation and someone pulled out a copy of Het Laatste Nieuws and they said ‘it says you’re going to Discovery.’ That was news to me. I’ve stayed in contact with those guys. I’m not sure how those things get start. I am with Cofidis through the end of 2007. We talked a little bit, but there was nothing like a deal. We’ll see, it’s hard to say in January where I will be in 2008. Ask me in June or July and I will have a better idea of where I will ride next year.