Barnabás Peák, from UCI World Cycling Centre to the World Tour.
Two years ago, one of the first articles of our website was Barnabás Peák's portrait (only available in French), as the Hungarian had ridden his first year in the World Cycling Centre. He had told us how he started cycling, inspired by Froome’s 2014 Vuelta; and he had given us his feelings about the World Cycling Center (WCC), cycling in Hungary and what he was excepting for the future. Jean-Jacques Henry, the WCC’s coach, had described him as a really promising but also attentive and hard-working rider.
Since November 2017, Barnabás rode for the World Cycling Centre, Quick-Step, SEG Racing Academy and Mitchelton Scott. He answered our questions again and Vasilis Anastopoulos, who was his coach at SEG Racing Academy, also spoke to us about Barnabás.
At the World Cycling Centre another year...
In 2018, Barnabás Peák chooses to stay at the WCC where he feels good. He has the opportunity to participate in major U23 races such as Paris Roubaix, Liège Bastogne Liège or Tour de l'Avenir, at only 19 years old, and also shines on amateur races. "My 2018 season was well decorated, I could learn what's the top level at U23, the WCC team treated us well." Barnabás also took part in his national championships in the Elite category: he dominated the time trial and won the road race 3 days later. "I was stocked to win both nationals, also thought that could be my good selling point to some teams."
Trainee at Quick-Step
At the end of the season, Barnabás Peák and the Dane Mikkel Frølich Honoré were the two trainees of Quick-Step. "I was very surprised by the opportunity from Quick-Step" Barnabás told us. He started 4 one day races with the Belgian team, with of course the role of teammate for Sénéchal or Hodeg.
At the Gran Piemonte in Italia, he was the last teammate of Florian Sénéchal and, under bad weather conditions that he enjoys, he managed to take the 9th place after having pulled for his leader from 2.3km to 600m from finish! "Yes, I could make the most out of it at Gran Piemonte. Big surprises to me."
SEG Racing Academy
After this first experience in the World Tour, Barnabás Peák chose SEG Raging Academy for 2019. The Dutch Team SEG is known to be the best development team in Europe: in 2020, about fifteen World Tour riders went through the SEG team, even though the structure was only created in 2015. "I knew SEG was a great career choice." His coach was the Greek Vasilis Anastopoulos, whom Barnabás considers as "a great coach and a great person" and who will be joining Quick-Step in 2020. Vasilis told us that "2019 was his first year with SEG but I think he fit in the group relatively easy and soon become one of the best riders there." He describes Barnabás as "a very passionate person who tries to become better and better as a person and a cyclist. He is a very good listener, but doesn’t hesitate to express his own ideas also. As a cyclist, he is very professional and tries his best in order to keep improving himself!"
2019 started really well for SEG and for Barnabás personally. In Tour de Normandie he won the fight against the bunch and takes a solo win in stage five, 4 days after a bad crash during the first stage. "My win in Normandie was very special. It will always remind me, that I can do a lot of things with my willpower." His coach agrees: "That win was really special, as in the morning of the stage I asked him to join the break of the day. I knew that this tactic would give him a stage win, if he played his cards smart. In the end, he followed the plan and everything came up as we had predicted with him doing a very strong attack to his break companions with 8km to go and finishing the race alone in front. It was a very emotional win for him and for me also, as our sprinter Dainese finished 2nd behind Barbey that day, so he did the first 2 podium places!"
The following of his season with SEG was average due to sickness: his best result was a second place on stage 8 of Giro Ciclistico d'Italia but he lost his titles in the national championship a few weeks later. "I struggled with sickness in the middle of the season, so losing my titles was kind of expected. I had some good days though, like the stage in the Giro where I finished second." Vasilis agrees: "He had some good and some bad moments during this season. He did a very good start but during May he got sick and lost some races that suit him best. After he got fit again, he worked really hard towards l'Avenir where he did a very good race."
Tour de l'Avenir 2019
For the first time in 2019, the Hungarian team started Tour de l'Avenir in August. Barnabás Peák had a very good week: he finished between 6th and 24th in all stages except the third. He climbed very well in the last stage even though he is not a climber. "L'avenir was great, I had good legs all week, climbing like a dream. I really want to focus on that, to be a fast puncheur, who can survive the climbs." Two years ago he had told us that the races with all-day climbing were the only ones he didn't like, he showed this year that finally he can get results even in these type of races. Barnabás is really a super versatile rider, sometimes compared to Kwiatkowski or Trentin. As for Vasilis Anastopoulos, "he can be a very good all-rounder and someone who can win the sprint from a small bunch. He can be a very valuable rider for every team and I'm pretty sure that he will positively surprise us in the next years!"
World Tour with Mitchelton Scott
Barnabás Peák is a World Tour rider since August 1. He signed a contract with Mitchelton Scott that goes until 2021, but Shayne Bannan, Mitchelton's general manager, told that it was a long-term project and that he hopes to still have Barnabás in his team in 10 years. He rode his firsts races with the Australian team in Belgium and Croatia but wasn't in good shape. "My season end was disappointing. I was given the opportunity a lot of times, when racing at the Worlds and with Mitchelton, but I just wasn't there. My preparation last winter wasn't optimal, so I guess I was lacking as soon as I got tired at the end of the year." A few days before he answered our questions, Barnabás broke his arm in an accident with a car. As a consequence, he did not ride Japan Cup which was supposed to be his last race of the season.
Next year, the Giro will start from Budapest, where Barnabás was born. It will probably be a unique opportunity for him to start a Grand Tour in his country. However, Barnabás will be only 21 so it could be too early to ride a Grand Tour. Shayne Bannan said that the decision will be taken on March 2020, Barnabás will be at the start only if he shows that he is ready for it.
The evolution of Hungarian cycling
In 2017, Barnabás wasn't really proud of the situation of Hungarian cycling: lack of investment from the federation, lack of good teams for young riders and therefore lack of riders. However, a lot has changed in the last 2 years. The new generation is very promising with Barnabás Peák and Attila Valter (who is one of the best young climbers and should join the World Tour in 2021) but also Erik Fetter or Márton Dina who will ride for the Spanish team Kometa in 2020. An Hungarian ProConti team, called Epowers Factory Team, could also be part of the pelotons in 2020. The Tour de Hongrie became a 2.1 race, which made it possible to have several Conti Pro teams at the start. Finally, the start of 2020 Giro will take place in Hungary: it's a great opportunity to help cycling become popular, just as it was in Israel. "We improved a lot didn't we?" says Barnabás. "Hungarian cycling is on the rise, and we don't plan on stopping soon I hope"
We want to thanks Barnabás Peák and Vasilis Anastopoulos for their participation, we wish them the best for the futur!
Vous pouvez aussi lire notre premier article sur Barnabás ici.