As a reporter one of the best things you can hope to hear mentioned alongside your name one day is ‘media trip’. When the words ‘Emirates business class’ accompany them, it feels like your birthday and Christmas have been rolled into one.
The only issue is that the different ends of the spectrum when it comes to good and bad media trip are vast. Like, Grand Canyon vast.
It’s the end of my first proper day in beautiful Belgium, having been invited by UAE Team Emirates for a behind-the-scenes look into the team’s preparations for the prestigious Liege Bastogne Liege race on Sunday – one of five Monument races on the UCI’s WorldTour this year.
And though it’s early days yet, this trip is definitely shaping up to being placed at the upper echelon of the spectrum.
Bright and early start for both @TeamUAEAbuDhabi and the media this morning as we head to Liege for training @Sport360 pic.twitter.com/QM5aSrfNih
— Matt Jones (@MattJones360) April 21, 2017
We were promised all areas access to the team. And that’s exactly what we’ve had. From being driven around the route on Friday as the riders test it out before Sunday, to dining with the team at every meal and being made to really feel part of the family.
I’ve been left to my own devices to record video and explore the team’s kitchen on one of the impressively green, white, red and black-decked UAE Team Emirates buses – something they clearly wouldn’t have allowed had they any prior experience of my voracious appetite.
With media trips, however open, there’s always some form of restriction. You can’t be privy to things like management meetings where classified tactics are discussed. Nor would we want to be really.
But riders have been made available to us throughout the day, the three-pronged media delegations’ calls for separate one-on-one interviews are freely granted, team promoter Mauro Gianetti (who’s a pretty big deal – he won this race in 1995 and has won stages at the Tour de France) is at our constant beck and call.
We were even allowed access to a masseuse while he was in the middle of a session with a half-naked Diego Ulissi – who cared little that three grown men were intruding on a well-earned recovery session.
Absolutely loving this from @AstanaTeam. Gearing up for a hard day's training by pumping some tunes in the team van. #Astana @Sport360 pic.twitter.com/nAzbnYSp4E
— Matt Jones (@MattJones360) April 21, 2017
But that’s just the nature of the sport of cycling. As Gianetti tells us, it’s a sport where opponents respect each other, even though you’re about to go to war with them on the roads the following day.
All of us travelled in convoy to begin Friday’s proceedings, pulling over in a lay-by to get the team prepared for the day’s training. Soon after we arrived, Direct Energie and their team bus pulled in.
Then Cannondale-Drepac emerged and finally Astana. For a minute I feared a Wild West, high noon style shootout was about to explode. The only thing that did were hugs and handshakes.
Old friends and famous old foes greeting each other at another race in another country just a week after the last, but embracing as if they were long lost family who’d not seen each other in years.
#SquadGoals #UAETeamEmirates #LiegeBastogneLiege pic.twitter.com/CnuHRrrKR9
— Matt Jones (@MattJones360) April 21, 2017
As we climbed one of the route’s many ascents, chasing and then allowing the UAE riders to catch up to us, Andrea, our driver, pulled over to a rider decked in Bahrain Merida – the only other Gulf-sponsored team on the WorldTour – with what seemed at first glance would be a case of road rage.
It transpired that Andrea recognised the rider – part of the Bahrain Merida staff – as an old colleague. The two happily chatted for 30 seconds while still driving and cycling up a substantial climb before fondly bidding each other adieu.
My trip has another two days to run, but the next has already got a lot to live up to.
