Saxo Bank-SunGard is undergoing an almost complete facelift in its rider roster this year, and there are also a number of new faces behind the scenes. One of those is recently retired Australian Nick Gates, who starts as a sports director on the Danish team.
The 38-year-old ended his career at the end of 2008 after six years in the Silence-Lotto team, where his job included taking care of fellow Australians Robbie McEwen and Cadel Evans. Most of his victories came in Australia, including the 1996 Australian championship and Commonwealth Bank Classic.
For a rider from the southern hemisphere riding in Europe means a huge upheaval as they have to move their life to the other side of the World; Gates is finding that life as a sports director is no different.
“In Australia I live in Queensland Gold Coast,” he explained. “But after coming to Saxo Bank-SunGard, we decided to move to the south of France to be close to the European races. I'm moving there with my wife and our four children.”
Although he spent more than ten years racing in Europe, he has just returned from his first ever teambuilding camp with Bjarne Riis’ team on the island of Fuerteventura.
“I think the teambuilding camp was a great idea to integrate everybody from day one,” he said. “Doing activities such as wind surfing, kite surfing and clowning is not the normal approach a pro cycling team would take but what this approach did was to bring us all together as a team. We have already practiced the most important part of getting ready for the season: teamwork.”
Having met his new team, there is one word that seems to sum things up for Gates: potential.
“The potential within the team is massive,” he said. “It's great to see some of the best cyclists in the world mixing with neo pros lending a helping hand making them feel very welcome.
“The same can be said about the sports directors,” he continued. “Being a new guy on the team, I was amazed to see how open and helpful people were and the rest of the staff was equally as helpful.
“So there is no shortage of potential within the team,” he repeated. “I think our biggest potential is that we are all very committed to the cause of remaining the greatest team in the world.”
Gates is both starting a new job, and moving to a different hemisphere; after retiring from racing two years ago though he is looking forward to getting back into the top level of the sport once more.
“2011 for me will be a very exciting journey,” he said. “My family and I are about to start fresh again in Europe, which we are all looking forward to. As a sports director I'm looking forward to being part of the cycling world again. For me, the most exciting thing is the opportunity to be part of this team and after our team building camp, I cannot wait for the season to get underway.”
After spending the start of his European racing career, Gates hit the big time with Lotto-Domo (which was to become Silence-Lotto buy his retirement, and is now known as OmegaPharma-Lotto) and he spent the rest of his career there. Although he never raced as part of the Saxo Bank team, what he has seen as a sports director leaves him impressed so far.
“Saxo Bank-SunGard has always had a certain stigma attached to it. As a rider I was always interested in what these guys were doing. And now after joining the team I can already start to understand why the team has a set of values. The communication and the respect between every single member of the team is amazing.
“I can only speak from my experience with previous teams I have been part of but personally I have never seen anything like this,” he added. “Let's just say that I am like a 20-year-old neo pro who can't wait for the new season to get started.”