Simon Pellaud: "I’ve heard so many times that cycling isn’t a Mickey Mouse world"
Pellaud gives Cycling Report this interview where he talks about his career, his new team Li Ning, his departure from Tudor and his perspective on the safety issues threatening modern cycling.
Simon Pellaud (6th November 1992; Martigny, Switzerland) has one of the most unique stories in the world of cycling. He is Swiss, lives in Colombia, has raced for American, Chinese, Swiss, and Italian teams, and is one of the few professionals to have won on four different continents. The only one missing is Oceania, though he fears that might be a challenge he won’t be able to complete.
We spoke for over an hour and fifteen minutes and the first thing that surprised me was his perfect Spanish with a Paisa accent.
Pellaud and Colombia, a true love story
He arrives late to our chat because he went out to train without his keys and had to wait outside his house for quite a while. He built the house he lives in about 7 years ago, up in the hills of Medellín, in Santa Elena, turning a cabin into his home.
"Many people do the opposite journey, from here to there", he says.
"A lot of those who make a living from cycling move to places like Andorra, for example, but I took the opposite path"
“I came to Colombia for the first time when the I Am Cycling team shut down" (a Swiss World Tour team that closed in 2016, where Pellaud made his professional debut, first as a stagiaire in 2014 and then full-time in 2015 and 2016). "I had just raced the Vuelta a España, I was starting to perform well, but I was left without a team, so I signed with Team Illuminate from San Francisco, where the Colombian champion Edwin Ávila was racing. I didn’t know him at all, but he invited me to his home. Winters in Switzerland are harsh, and to escape the cold and snow I decided to go. I had always heard my teammates talk about this country. It was time to see it for myself. And I got hooked".
During that first experience in Bogotá he crashed, broke his elbow and had to return to Europe earlier than planned for surgery. But that experience only left him wanting more.
Then, they were invited to race in the Vuelta a Colombia, 12 stages through Colombia that left him wanting more. "I stayed at the house of Mauricio Ardila, a former Rabobank rider, and that’s when I fell in love with Santa Elena, where I eventually settled".
“A sense of peace and balance I hadn’t found before”
He also explains that his change of lifestyle had an economic reason. "Money goes much further here than in Switzerland. I’ve never earned a lot".
"I also learned the language, although I never picked up a Spanish book, apart from writing down some vocabulary notes at the beginning. I learned it on the streets, with my friends. And I picked up the accent and Colombian expressions."
Life on two continents
That Colombian life also comes with its challenges, like constant travel and adaptation. "At Team Illuminate, I performed better in training than in races. You have to learn how your body responds when you change altitude, temperature, food, time zones… You have to listen to your body to perform at your best".
"I’d say I need at least a week to acclimatise to the changes. The first two or three training days are tough, and after a hard session, I finally find that cardiovascular balance."
A sort of athletic jet lag.
"It’s frustrating at times", he admits. "In Europe, you can do 5, 10 or 20 minute intervals at 400 watts… but here, sometimes you just can’t. I live at 2.600 metres, like being at the summit of the Galibier. Colombians tell me I live in a very cold place and wonder how I manage. But for a Swiss, this isn’t cold," he laughs.
"My European teammates say I’m lucky to live at altitude", as if he were on a permanent training camp, like the ones professionals seek to increase their red blood cell count and ultimately improve performance. "But it really annoys me".
"It’s tough up here, you struggle for oxygen when training at such high altitude. And when I go down to the city, which sits at around 1.000 metres, I feel suffocated by the heat, which can reach 40 degrees with extreme humidity. Heat puts more stress on the body than altitude itself".
Pellaud lives in the ‘Golden Altitude’, where coffee, bananas, and other fruits and vegetables grow. But it’s not always as idyllic for cycling as it might seem from the other side of the Atlantic.
From Tudor to gravel
"In December 2023, they promised me a contract renewal at Tudor, so I was at ease, thinking I’d have another 2 years with the team… But the team grew a lot and changed with the signings of Hirschi and Alaphilippe, and that contract promise vanished. I was left with a void because I knew that if I didn’t stay at Tudor, things would get complicated. On top of that, if a Swiss rider isn’t renewed by a Swiss team, people start wondering what went wrong. And I think I had a good year, working hard for my leaders".
"The months before signing have been really tough". "I left Tudor in tears, I just didn’t understand it".
"From a sporting perspective it was a great experience and I made friends for life. I learned how to be a true domestique, even how to get into a leadout train for a sprint with De Klein".
From Tudor’s slogan, ‘Swiss, Human, Performance’, Pellaud believes that with the team’s growth, "the human part will inevitably fade a little".
After regaining his balance following months of uncertainty, he received an invitation to compete in the Life Time Grand Prix, a series of six gravel events in the United States, which he combines with road cycling.
"I raced the Serenissima in Italy in 2023, and even though I finished in the top 10, guys like Vermeersch, with their cyclocross background, made me realise I didn’t have the technical skills. I ended up completely drained. Many riders take up gravel after retiring, but at that time, I didn’t see it that way. The key is to balance it with road racing. I’m a road rider, I’m not switching to gravel like Valverde or Van Avermaet. I’m still an active pro."
He has already begun his new adventure with the Transcordilleras, an eight-stage race across Colombia.
A globe breakaway-rider
Pellaud considers himself a ‘globe rider’. He received an offer from another Asian team, but their contract wouldn’t allow him to combine gravel and road racing. When he spoke with the manager of the Chinese Continental squad Li Ning, the key factor was that his presence would take the team to another level. In a mutually beneficial relationship, Li Ning gains visibility while Pellaud secures another year as a professional road cyclist. "I enjoy training, but what I truly love is racing." Pellaud expects Li Ning’s European calendar to be quite limited, just focusing on races in Turkey and Greece.
"I don’t have problems with anyone, I don’t have a coach ruining my life (laughs), I have freedom and I’m going exactly where I want to go."
Simon Pellaud has had a unique career, at least by the average standards of professional cycling. But his identity and popularity are built on one thing: the breakaway. He’s a fighter, never content with just rolling along in the peloton.
One of his many breakaways came during the 2022 Wollongong World Championships in Australia. "Winning on the last continent I was missing would have been nice that day," he laughs. That breakaway had an unexpected guest: Remco Evenepoel. "That day still gives me goosebumps."
"The breakaway in the World Championships and the one in Milan Sanremo are the ones I’ve always dreamed of: attacking from the start and reaching Via Roma with six or seven of the top riders chasing behind".
"I arrived at that Worlds in one of the best shapes of my life," he recalls.
He wasn’t thinking about winning for himself but about helping Mauro Schmid, his Swiss teammate and one of the fastest riders in the leading group. "After the first climb of the day, a strong group caught us, with guys like Pavel Sivakov and other big names. It was a day of modern cycling, full gas all the time, without caring who was up front or who was in the peloton".
For Pellaud, Schmid was the strongest rider in that group after Evenepoel, so he sacrificed himself to help him chase a medal. But "there was too much hesitation in the front group and the peloton caught them 300 metres from the finish. That’s the only bitter memory I have from that day."
The new generation
Not long ago, Pellaud described this new generation as "people who have no life".
"The average level is much higher now, at the same level as the best riders from just a few years ago. Cycling is changing a lot, and you can see it in the balance and respect within the peloton."
He quotes Domenico Pozzovivo when talking about the "war" that racing has become. "I see a lot of young riders, I won’t say names, who don’t know how to do anything". "I, for example, have my own land to work on here in Colombia", he says, believing that this new generation lacks "a more open mind".
"There’s so much more in life than just spending all day on Pro Cycling Stats, counting every gram of carbohydrates you eat, just to perform at a decent level… But still miles away from Roglič, Vingegaard, and especially Pogačar".
"That used to frustrate me so much. What’s the point of sacrificing everything, good food, time with friends, just to climb a mountain ten seconds faster?"
"That level got me into some of the biggest teams in the world, but I feel much more at peace now".
Respect in the peloton: here we go again
I mention that I’ve heard a lot about the lack of respect in the peloton, from Michael Matthews to Peter Sagan, as it’s almost become a mantra among veteran riders. Pellaud also thinks so, but what does he mean by that?
"Modern cycling has become chaos when it comes to fighting for position. If you enter a climb in 30th or 40th place, you won’t enjoy it because the pace is brutal.”
"And I also mean respect for the staff. The lack of gratitude towards the people who were there before you arrived, who take care of you, who have way more experience in cycling"
The problem, he says, is that young riders now come in at an insanely high level. "Before, you needed time and a different process to reach that standard. Now, you have 18 to 20 years old guys who are incredibly strong on the bike but break all the rules.
"You notice it when safety issues arise, for example. "There are no more leaders in the peloton, which can be seen as good or bad. But now, there’s no unity, everything is individualism, everyone just looking out for themselves." He brings up crashes like Itzulia 2024 or Mäder, tragic moments that didn’t seem to change anything. "Riders just want money and victories, and we forget about respect for life."
"If organizations, riders, and brands actually talked, we could make cycling a safer space. But I’ve heard so many times that «cycling isn’t a Mickey Mouse world»", he laughs. "They just tell you to be tough, shut up and keep your head down."
About the current race style and the ambition of the new champions, Pellaud says there is no respect for breakaways anymore either. "The leaders want to win everything they can. It's as if the others, being weaker, just have to eat shit. For me, that is killing the essence of cycling. A rider who wins so easily... is going to make the audience lose interest in where cycling is heading.”
Does having dominant riders like Pogacar and Van der Poel make people bored?
“Let's see how long they can stay at this level... But cycling is fun when there's a fight, the beauty of it is that it's not an exact science, and anyone can win. But nothing ever happens to these guys; they don’t even seem to suffer or feel pain. I think the audience might get tired of it”.
The obsession with UCI points in modern cycling
“The points system has changed cycling a lot. Teams no longer want to race certain stage races, opting instead for classics, even if they have no tradition or history there. Skipping the Vuelta a Burgos to race three events in Belgium that don’t hold the same sporting value makes no sense, but they prefer placing three riders in the top ten there rather than winning the race”.
So, in today's cycling, you have to be more individualistic and think about UCI points?
“At Tudor we didn’t have that urgency. With that sponsor, even without points, invitations would come from other channels... but over the last two years I no longer had the same freedom to go for breakaways like before, even without a clear leader. That bored me a little. Helping a guy finish 15th just to grab 20 UCI points? It seems ridiculous to me.”
Helping a guy finish 15th just to grab 20 UCI points? It seems ridiculous to me.
“There’s much more control in the peloton now. In Grand Tours, flat stages are disappearing because no one wants to go in the breakaway, and they’ve become boring. The pace on tough days is so high that they’ve turned into rest days, and no one wants to fight. What will the organizers do? Remove those stages… The rider who fights for single stage wins in a Grand Tour is going to disappear and almost everything will go to the big teams. The kind of rider who seeks grandeur, the fuck the system type no longer exists. And that’s making cycling more boring.”
“Why don’t people try that anymore? Riders like me, without a finishing kick or without the 7 w/kg needed to win on a climb, when it used to be 6… If you don’t have a sprinter to contest the finish, why not take risks? This comes from the directors and sponsors. Cycling is changing, but it’s sad. The passion is missing.”
Safety in modern cycling. Is it too late?
Regarding the increasingly frequent safety issues and Wout Van Aert’s comments about potential speed limits, Pellaud reflects about the industry interests.
“I’d say what hurts is that human beings always want more. In cycling, you feel it more than in other sports because there’s no more space on the road. We’re not going to go any faster because, in the corners, we’ll just fly off. We’re reaching a technical level where brands are bringing in brakes that stop later, bigger gearing, and even tires are evolving… But if there’s no collective awareness, there’s nothing to be done. I think it will be impossible to go back to where we were ten years ago. Physically, there’s also been huge progress, and more risks are being taken.”
“We should do what Formula 1 does and have just one bike or tire brand. The bike shouldn’t just be faster or more aerodynamic, it needs to be safer too.”
On the UCI and yellow cards
Do you think this will make riders more aware of the dangers?
“First, they should control things like caffeine bottles, which spike adrenaline and competitive aggression.”
“It might calm a couple of lunatics (the yellow cards system), but there will always be someone who doesn’t care about getting a red card. And when that happens, it’ll be because they’ve caused a crash and sent 50 riders to the hospital. There are a lot of idiots out there. Many young riders don’t realize the risks until they have their first crash and their first fracture.”
Like becoming a parent?
“Yes, it’s the same. But the guys fighting at the front now are 20 year olds. A 30 y/o sees life differently. We also need organizers to step in and stop designing downhill finishes, but the UCI wants a show, brands want to keep selling bikes and riders just want to make a little more money next year, or simply secure a contract.”
“I’m too soft. I wish I’d been more of a bastard sometimes, I would have made more money and won more races. But I also would have crashed more and been much less happy.”
Life after cycling
"I still don’t know what I’ll do. At least for now, I plan to ride professionally for at least two more years. I can’t see myself locked up in an office. I’d like to be a cycling coach. I have knowledge, I speak five languages and I think I could teach a lot. It would be a great way to keep traveling. I’m actually setting up a cycling tour project for Europeans and Americans here in Colombia. I recently organized my first trip, and it was amazing.”
“I don’t know if my future is in Colombia or Switzerland, luckily, I have both doors open. I’m not like those 18 or 20-year-old kids with no education who will be burned out from cycling by 25, with some money in their pocket but little else.”
Really liked that! Never knew his story, and his perspective on road cycling makes you think