Cavendish has Martin Laas as alternative Astana Qazaqstan sprint lead-out

When Mark Cavendish signed for Astana Qazaqstan, much was made of the last-minute contracting of Dutch sprinter Cees Bol to work as a lead-out man for the Briton in the Kazakh team. However Astana Qazaqstan also have a second option for that role, as became clear in the recent Tour of Oman where Estonia’s Martin Laas worked as a lead-out man for Cavendish.

Bol will be the man minding Cavendish in the bunch sprints at the UAE Tour next week and as such will likely remain the plan A for Astana Qazaqstan’s incipient sprint train. But Laas hopes to be back with Cavendish down the line at some unspecified races later this year.

Formerly with Bora-Hansgrohe, Laas said that when he signed with Astana, he had no idea Cavendish would later end up joining. But he had no objection to his job description changing dramatically in the last couple of months.

“When I signed, all the rumours said that Mark would normally be going with B&B. But I’m proud to be in the team to lead out Mark and make as much of it as I can, even if leading out and sprinting are completely different games,” Laas pointed out.

Laas isn’t going to be locked into one specific duty in Astana just because of Cavendish’s arrival.

“I have different roles in some races. Maybe I will get an opportunity in some races, in others more as a lead-out for Gleb Syritsa or Cavendish,” he explained.

“Basically, I’d like to help the team as much as possible in the lead-outs and support in this way but also get opportunities in the race too, because for sure I want to win as well.”

Laas gained much of his experience in riding as a lead-out man in Bora-Hansgrohe, where he racked up the biggest of his 14 wins to date, a stage of the Arctic Tour of Norway in 2021. 

He knows that leading out a sprint and sprinting for victory are very different. 

“If you are a sprinter you just need to save energy, save, save and save - and then just launch in the last 200 metres,” he explained.

“If you’re a lead-out man, then you always need to think about your sprinter and always need to think a few steps ahead. Plus if I pass through the peloton I need to make room for Mark behind as well.”

“It’s not totally different, but you always have to remember that what’s important for you is not actually what’s best for you: it’s what’s best for the sprinter.”

Each sprinter has their own attitude to the final metres of a race, Laas points out, and the more a lead-out man and a sprinter race together, the more fluid and effective the relationship is likely to be.

“You need to know his abilities, know him as a person. Some riders like to be in the front, others at the back, some like to make their moves in the last minute -  it’s always different,” Laas said.

“It’s like in normal life, every person is different and they do things in different ways.”

So far he and Cavendish have barely had an opportunity to practice a lead out, with the next chances at least a few weeks away after the one bunch sprint there was in Oman.

“I did only one training ride before with Mark and then we started here already here in Oman,” Laas said. 

“Before, we never could fit in practising this role for me and for Mark, and now we don’t have any more training camps. So it’ll just be in the races where we can get to know each other better.”

The early years and the first sprint with Cavendish

After signing as a pro with the French squad Delko-Marseille-Provence-KTM, Laas spent two years with American Conti’ Team Illuminate, where he was a teammate with the Vuelta a España’s oldest ever winner, US racer Chris Horner, in Horner’s final season.

“I started cycling when I was 15, before that I did a lot of other sports and then I just loved to ride my bike and ended up in a cycling club,” Laas said.

“Since then I grew year by year, but though I started quite late in pro cycling, I was always good in sprints.”

“When I moved to amateur teams I knew straight away that on the climbs there was no chance for me because I always suffered. But over a one-minute-to-30-second-period, I knew I could always produce a lot of power. So I knew I was capable of doing a good sprint.”

“My first years were really difficult, but since my third year as a pro [2018], I’ve started to find myself again and in my last three years, I think I have taken a quite big step.”

Laas is happy with his 2023 form. 

“My general level is good, and also I know my sprint is still there,” he said.

“Obviously I need to work a little bit on the climbing to get over the mountains but it’s always improving a little. At the moment, the shape is good, the base is good, just missing a bit of race speed and so on.” 

Cavendish finished 21st in the Tour of Oman sprint but Laas was with Cavendish through to the last 500 metres and Astana Qazaqstan’s management were pleased with how the team produced the lead out.

Astana Qazaqstan are on a brutally steep sprinting learning curve. 

“It’s always difficult to start in a lead-out and sprint straightaway. But in the end, I think we managed quite well,” Laas said.

“I didn’t get stressed thinking, ‘man, I have to do a lead-out’. Actually, it was nice to work with Mark, it was good.”