The first few months of the year are a busy time for Lewis Askey. As TheBritish Continental speaks to the Groupama-FDJ classics specialist, he is back at home in Cannock after a short trip to Belgium for the Kerstperiode, the holy week of cyclocross over the festive period. In the heartlands of the sport, Askey tested his off-road skills on classic courses such as Baal and Koksidje, catching the eye against world-class opposition and contemporaries such as Wout Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel.
Every single year I’ve just gotten a little bit better, and I just want to keep getting better
“I’ve just been unpacking and packing, tidying and cleaning very dirty kit,” he jokes, as he shares his ambition to medal in that weekend’s National Cyclocross Championships in Falkirk, something he would achieve, finishing in the bronze medal position behind ‘cross specialists Cameron Mason and Thomas Mein.
Askey’s foray onto the ‘cross field, which began at the very grassroots of the sport with victory in the West Midlands Championships in December, was with his sights set firmly on the spring, the intensity of competition bringing the best out of the 22 year old. “It’s definitely good training, it means I haven’t got to do any efforts in training right now,” he says. “I just like riding my bike and racing, which is why I wanted to do it.”
2023 British Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships 2024 – Callendar Park, Falkirk, Scotland – MEN ELITE/U23 OPEN – Lewis Askey. Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Askey is no stranger to cyclocross. He was a regular winner in National Trophy races in his junior days. With his 2023/34 performances demonstrating his potential on the international stage, is more cyclocross on the cards in the future, akin to fellow Brit and road star Tom Pidcock? “I would, but you need the support. It’s so expensive, cyclocross, and it does take commitment,” he answers.
“You know, my season ends in October on the road, so if I really wanted to do it properly, I’d have to end my season earlier or have no break. I’m already starting in February, so it’s a long season. If I was showing potential to podium in World Cups, then maybe I’d think about it, but it’s too much money, too much commitment and too much time to come around the top 15.”
Askey’s attention will now be firmly set on the cobbled classics, races he has shown promise in during his first two seasons as a professional. “From February until April, every race in that block is a nice race. It’s just being on really good form for that whole block, really,” he says when discussing his aims for the first part of the season.
“It’s the same as every year, really, I just want to get better. I think there’s a lot of young guys that are coming through that are just exceptional and people start comparing themselves to them, but I’m not really on that path. I’m on the path of every single year I’ve just gotten a little bit better, and I just want to keep getting better.”
Last year, I was always slightly behind having the legs to really be in the race at the front
Askey has been a key part of the Groupama-FDJ classics squad over the past two seasons, providing support for leaders Stefan Kung and Valentin Maduoas, as well as taking an impressive fifth at Nokere Koerse last year, before finishing second, just missing out on a maiden professional victory, in the season closing Paris-Tours, in October.
“Last year, I did good jobs, but I was always slightly behind having the legs to really be in the race at the front,” he reflects. “In races like Roubaix and Flanders, I was coming in with a group sprinting for 15th and I was always just, literally two bike lengths off making the split, just the first one to not make it. Hopefully, if I’m improving and hit the season in a bit better form, maybe that little difference can change a lot because you make those couple of extra bike lengths and you’re in a group that’s gone up the road, and it completely changes the race for you.”
2023 Gent Wevelgem in Flanders Fields – Wevelgem, Belgium, Lewis Askey, Groupama FDJ. Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com
Where does Askey, who is naturally suited to what he describes as the “messy” nature of the northern classics, fit in to the team, coming into his third season? “I think some of my strengths are that explosive, 30 seconds to 1 minute power, and then tactical positioning is the thing I’m used quite a lot for in the team. When I gets messy I can be in the right place at the right time, obviously that’s useful in those races at the start of the year,” he says.
I’ve been told I’ll get more opportunities this year, but we’ll see how much that materialises
“I’ve been told I’ll get more opportunities this year, but we’ll see how much that materialises. Last year, I was given two opportunities at the start of the day and I took both of them, and then the other opportunities were just from situations that happened in races.
“We’ve got a bunch of younger guys who are trying to fight their way through. It’s going to depend on the way we develop year by year, you might have some guys that hit the season running. It’s difficult in the classics because they’re so messy.”
Askey has one eye set on a week in March where he could potentially break his professional duck with two French Cup races as well Nokere Koerse and the Paris-Roubaix-like GP Denain; races where he has shown well in previous editions. “It’s [leadership] something I’ll push a little bit more for. Hopefully, especially that week, if I do start showing that I’m going really well, it’s easier to pick up, they’re inclined to say ‘OK, we’ll go for him today’, not just giving you a shot.”
2023 Gent Wevelgem in Flanders Fields – Wevelgem, Belgium, Lewis Askey, Groupama FDJ. Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com
Askey is set to follow the same busy schedule in 2024 as the previous two years, the benefits two-fold. “I train really well, I train really hard,” he assures me. “I just can’t arrive in the same sort of form as I can get from racing. The consistent racing, one, two, three times in the week, leading up to the big races, it really ups my form. So more than anything for me, that is so important. I thrive off that load of racing. I’m not someone who can have a goal and train up to it and arrive on the best kind of form, I really need the races to get better.”
I did a recce of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on my ‘cross bike, the 170km with the finishing circuit
Racing frequently also lends itself to acquiring local knowledge, which can be vital to succeeding in and around Flanders, where races can change within a matter of pedal strokes. “It’s just knowing the roads,” Askey says simply. “Literally just yesterday I did a recce of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on my ‘cross bike, the 170km with the finishing circuit, just because I’m pretty good with the roads and stuff, but Kuurne is slightly different and I always kind of seem to get lost at the end of the race, so I just wanted to have that extra point of reference. I think that’s the most important thing, knowing what’s coming up. The reference year on year, knowing ‘this was winding here’ or ‘this happened here’, ‘it was super stressful here’ or ‘if I just a little further forward here ‘, that kind of thing. If it’s in your subconscious, then when you come to race it you’ll be in the right places for those moments. That comes through years of experience.”
The roads are not the only thing Askey has learnt in his two years as a professional. Posting impressive results in his neo-pro season in 2022, Askey noted the difference between the WorldTour and the junior and under-23 ranks.
2023 Paris-Roubaix – Compiegne to Roubaix, France – Lewis Askey of Groupama FDJ. Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
“I suppose the biggest thing is the level. It’s impressive at the WorldTour when you go into the classics. I think the biggest thing that helped me was the development of endurance, it was something I missed in the first year. I’ve always had the speed, the ability to do what I need to do at the end of the race, or in that last two hours of Flanders or something.
It’s good to have friends in the peloton, but if you’re too nice, you end up getting flicked as well. So knowing when the right moment is to not be friends and when to make friends, that’s the thing I’m learning the most through the years
“A lot of the learning has been about the politics of the peloton. It’s good to have friends in the peloton, but if you’re too nice, you end up getting flicked as well. So knowing when the right moment is to not be friends and when to make friends, that’s the thing I’m learning the most through the years. There’s times when you just have to do what you’ve got to do, but if you do it every day of every race, when it comes to a big race and you’ve got to do it, you might have enemies that you’ve made, and that makes your life even harder.”
It is not only in terms if athleticism and nouse Askey has had to adapt; skills as basic as dressing correctly and fuelling appropriately are crucial to going deep into a 250km races prone to adverse weather, such as Gent-Wevelgem. “Learning how your body works on those sort of races with food and nutrition, the weather, learning how to dress yourself properly,” Askey continues. “Doing six hours in the cold and wet, it’s not the same as when you’re a junior because you can kind of survive two and a half hours if you’re not dressed properly, but six and a half you won’t if you’re not clever with how you dress.”
Askey almost tasted glory on the biggest stage last October, his second place in Paris-Tours the culmination of two seasons experience; a race where Askey was the strongest rider. Now the dust has settled, the Cannock rider doesn’t regret the outcome, but says he “takes comfort” from the race as a whole. “It’s almost like a comfort. It’s nice that I feel good enough to be here. It’s the confidence of knowing that I’m good enough to deserve my place in the WorldTour.
“It can be hard coming up into the WorldTour. I’ve not won everything, but I’ve always won at every level, even if it was just once a year. So, when you come up to the WorldTour, it can feel, in some races, like I’m just not any good. Performing like that in a big race like Paris-Tours, it’s just confirmation that I do deserve my place here.
I’ve got friends who are good cyclists who haven’t made it, and sometimes I don’t feel like I’m that much better than them, so to have moments like that, and I’ve had a few of them this year, I feel like I deserve my place to be here
“Sometimes I feel I’ve been fortunate that I started off being supported when I was younger, then I was with BC, then I went straight to FDJ with the Conti team for two years, and I stepped up from there, straight into the WorldTour. I feel like it’s been very smooth sailing, very fluid like I’ve just taken each step as it’s come. I’ve got friends who are good cyclists who haven’t made it, and sometimes I don’t feel like I’m that much better than them, so to have moments like that, and I’ve had a few of them this year, I feel like I deserve my place to be here.”
Askey’s next step in his journey is to taste victory, the top step of the podium a natural aim. However, it isn’t something he will stress about, enjoying the ‘process’ of being a professional cyclist the primary concern. “Of course I’m bothered about the cycling, but I’m also bothered about the process of it all, enjoying it. Whatever goes on in the races, goes on,” he says, adding how he feels at home in the supportive Groupama-FDJ setup.
“They’ve always been really good to me as well, ever since I’ve been with them. Obviously I don’t know anything different in terms of professional road cycling, but of course it feels like home and it’s nice I enjoy the environment I’m in. I don’t try and put too much pressure on it [a win]. You’re going to have enough pressure when you’re on the startline and there’s thousands of people watching.”
The first few months of the year are a busy time for Lewis Askey. As The British Continental speaks to the Groupama-FDJ classics specialist, he is back at home in Cannock after a short trip to Belgium for the Kerstperiode, the holy week of cyclocross over the festive period. In the heartlands of the sport, Askey tested his off-road skills on classic courses such as Baal and Koksidje, catching the eye against world-class opposition and contemporaries such as Wout Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel.
“I’ve just been unpacking and packing, tidying and cleaning very dirty kit,” he jokes, as he shares his ambition to medal in that weekend’s National Cyclocross Championships in Falkirk, something he would achieve, finishing in the bronze medal position behind ‘cross specialists Cameron Mason and Thomas Mein.
Askey’s foray onto the ‘cross field, which began at the very grassroots of the sport with victory in the West Midlands Championships in December, was with his sights set firmly on the spring, the intensity of competition bringing the best out of the 22 year old. “It’s definitely good training, it means I haven’t got to do any efforts in training right now,” he says. “I just like riding my bike and racing, which is why I wanted to do it.”
Askey is no stranger to cyclocross. He was a regular winner in National Trophy races in his junior days. With his 2023/34 performances demonstrating his potential on the international stage, is more cyclocross on the cards in the future, akin to fellow Brit and road star Tom Pidcock? “I would, but you need the support. It’s so expensive, cyclocross, and it does take commitment,” he answers.
“You know, my season ends in October on the road, so if I really wanted to do it properly, I’d have to end my season earlier or have no break. I’m already starting in February, so it’s a long season. If I was showing potential to podium in World Cups, then maybe I’d think about it, but it’s too much money, too much commitment and too much time to come around the top 15.”
Askey’s attention will now be firmly set on the cobbled classics, races he has shown promise in during his first two seasons as a professional. “From February until April, every race in that block is a nice race. It’s just being on really good form for that whole block, really,” he says when discussing his aims for the first part of the season.
“It’s the same as every year, really, I just want to get better. I think there’s a lot of young guys that are coming through that are just exceptional and people start comparing themselves to them, but I’m not really on that path. I’m on the path of every single year I’ve just gotten a little bit better, and I just want to keep getting better.”
Askey has been a key part of the Groupama-FDJ classics squad over the past two seasons, providing support for leaders Stefan Kung and Valentin Maduoas, as well as taking an impressive fifth at Nokere Koerse last year, before finishing second, just missing out on a maiden professional victory, in the season closing Paris-Tours, in October.
“Last year, I did good jobs, but I was always slightly behind having the legs to really be in the race at the front,” he reflects. “In races like Roubaix and Flanders, I was coming in with a group sprinting for 15th and I was always just, literally two bike lengths off making the split, just the first one to not make it. Hopefully, if I’m improving and hit the season in a bit better form, maybe that little difference can change a lot because you make those couple of extra bike lengths and you’re in a group that’s gone up the road, and it completely changes the race for you.”
Where does Askey, who is naturally suited to what he describes as the “messy” nature of the northern classics, fit in to the team, coming into his third season? “I think some of my strengths are that explosive, 30 seconds to 1 minute power, and then tactical positioning is the thing I’m used quite a lot for in the team. When I gets messy I can be in the right place at the right time, obviously that’s useful in those races at the start of the year,” he says.
“I’ve been told I’ll get more opportunities this year, but we’ll see how much that materialises. Last year, I was given two opportunities at the start of the day and I took both of them, and then the other opportunities were just from situations that happened in races.
“We’ve got a bunch of younger guys who are trying to fight their way through. It’s going to depend on the way we develop year by year, you might have some guys that hit the season running. It’s difficult in the classics because they’re so messy.”
Askey has one eye set on a week in March where he could potentially break his professional duck with two French Cup races as well Nokere Koerse and the Paris-Roubaix-like GP Denain; races where he has shown well in previous editions. “It’s [leadership] something I’ll push a little bit more for. Hopefully, especially that week, if I do start showing that I’m going really well, it’s easier to pick up, they’re inclined to say ‘OK, we’ll go for him today’, not just giving you a shot.”
Askey is set to follow the same busy schedule in 2024 as the previous two years, the benefits two-fold. “I train really well, I train really hard,” he assures me. “I just can’t arrive in the same sort of form as I can get from racing. The consistent racing, one, two, three times in the week, leading up to the big races, it really ups my form. So more than anything for me, that is so important. I thrive off that load of racing. I’m not someone who can have a goal and train up to it and arrive on the best kind of form, I really need the races to get better.”
Racing frequently also lends itself to acquiring local knowledge, which can be vital to succeeding in and around Flanders, where races can change within a matter of pedal strokes. “It’s just knowing the roads,” Askey says simply. “Literally just yesterday I did a recce of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on my ‘cross bike, the 170km with the finishing circuit, just because I’m pretty good with the roads and stuff, but Kuurne is slightly different and I always kind of seem to get lost at the end of the race, so I just wanted to have that extra point of reference. I think that’s the most important thing, knowing what’s coming up. The reference year on year, knowing ‘this was winding here’ or ‘this happened here’, ‘it was super stressful here’ or ‘if I just a little further forward here ‘, that kind of thing. If it’s in your subconscious, then when you come to race it you’ll be in the right places for those moments. That comes through years of experience.”
The roads are not the only thing Askey has learnt in his two years as a professional. Posting impressive results in his neo-pro season in 2022, Askey noted the difference between the WorldTour and the junior and under-23 ranks.
“I suppose the biggest thing is the level. It’s impressive at the WorldTour when you go into the classics. I think the biggest thing that helped me was the development of endurance, it was something I missed in the first year. I’ve always had the speed, the ability to do what I need to do at the end of the race, or in that last two hours of Flanders or something.
“A lot of the learning has been about the politics of the peloton. It’s good to have friends in the peloton, but if you’re too nice, you end up getting flicked as well. So knowing when the right moment is to not be friends and when to make friends, that’s the thing I’m learning the most through the years. There’s times when you just have to do what you’ve got to do, but if you do it every day of every race, when it comes to a big race and you’ve got to do it, you might have enemies that you’ve made, and that makes your life even harder.”
It is not only in terms if athleticism and nouse Askey has had to adapt; skills as basic as dressing correctly and fuelling appropriately are crucial to going deep into a 250km races prone to adverse weather, such as Gent-Wevelgem. “Learning how your body works on those sort of races with food and nutrition, the weather, learning how to dress yourself properly,” Askey continues. “Doing six hours in the cold and wet, it’s not the same as when you’re a junior because you can kind of survive two and a half hours if you’re not dressed properly, but six and a half you won’t if you’re not clever with how you dress.”
Askey almost tasted glory on the biggest stage last October, his second place in Paris-Tours the culmination of two seasons experience; a race where Askey was the strongest rider. Now the dust has settled, the Cannock rider doesn’t regret the outcome, but says he “takes comfort” from the race as a whole. “It’s almost like a comfort. It’s nice that I feel good enough to be here. It’s the confidence of knowing that I’m good enough to deserve my place in the WorldTour.
“It can be hard coming up into the WorldTour. I’ve not won everything, but I’ve always won at every level, even if it was just once a year. So, when you come up to the WorldTour, it can feel, in some races, like I’m just not any good. Performing like that in a big race like Paris-Tours, it’s just confirmation that I do deserve my place here.
“Sometimes I feel I’ve been fortunate that I started off being supported when I was younger, then I was with BC, then I went straight to FDJ with the Conti team for two years, and I stepped up from there, straight into the WorldTour. I feel like it’s been very smooth sailing, very fluid like I’ve just taken each step as it’s come. I’ve got friends who are good cyclists who haven’t made it, and sometimes I don’t feel like I’m that much better than them, so to have moments like that, and I’ve had a few of them this year, I feel like I deserve my place to be here.”
Askey’s next step in his journey is to taste victory, the top step of the podium a natural aim. However, it isn’t something he will stress about, enjoying the ‘process’ of being a professional cyclist the primary concern. “Of course I’m bothered about the cycling, but I’m also bothered about the process of it all, enjoying it. Whatever goes on in the races, goes on,” he says, adding how he feels at home in the supportive Groupama-FDJ setup.
“They’ve always been really good to me as well, ever since I’ve been with them. Obviously I don’t know anything different in terms of professional road cycling, but of course it feels like home and it’s nice I enjoy the environment I’m in. I don’t try and put too much pressure on it [a win]. You’re going to have enough pressure when you’re on the startline and there’s thousands of people watching.”
Featured image: SWpix.com
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