Including layovers, Shane Archbold’s transition from rider to directeur sportif should take about sixteen hours.
After bringing the curtain down on his racing career at the Tour of Guangxi on Tuesday, the New Zealander reports for duty in his new role in Germany on Wednesday evening.
“Tomorrow I’m flying straight from China to Munich for the team meeting, and straight into the new role,” Archbold told Cyclingnews in Guilin after signing on for his final race.
“I’ll get on the flight with the boys as a rider and get off as a DS. It’s going to be a bit strange, but that’s how the team see it. They wanted me to stay calm and stay as a rider until now, and then start into the role.”
Although Archbold’s contract was up for renewal at the end of this year, he wasn’t seriously contemplating retirement until Bora-Hansgrohe manager Ralph Denk suggested he might have a place for him in the team car for 2024.
Still only 34 years of age, and after fighting so hard to return to the top level after his heavy crash at the 2016 Tour de France, Archbold was minded to continue for at least a couple more years if he could find a contract elsewhere.
“It’s the reason I’m retiring. I’m old but I’m not that old, so I probably could have done another couple of years,” said Archbold, who took some time to mull over Denk’s offer. In the end, a bout of COVID-19 in August helped to make up his mind.
“In the beginning it was day on, day off, wanting to continue and not wanting to continue. But then obviously the decision was made for me when I got COVID-19 again in August. There were too many downs and not enough ups, so it was just easier to stop. For sure, I’m going to regret it some days, but I think for the majority, I’m pretty happy with my decision.”
Sam Bennett can vouch for his close friend and long-term teammate’s credentials for his new position as a directeur sportif.
“He always knew what he was doing, so I think he’ll be good at that role,” the Irish sprinter said.
Archbold himself admitted that the career change came as a surprise. Denk, however, was insistent that Archbold, who spent six seasons as a rider on the team, was perfectly suited to a management position.
“For me, it’s a big surprise, and for everyone else, it’s a bigger surprise,” Archbold said.
“I don’t think anyone would have expected it, but Ralph has an idea and it’s something I’m willing to try and see how we go, to try to progress the young riders on the team for the future.”
“Sam's is the reason I’m a professional’
A native of Timaru on the South Island of New Zealand, Archbold first gave notice of his talent on the track, riding to silver in the Omnium at the 2011 World Championships.
He would later take gold in the scratch race at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. After spells with the Marco Polo Cycling and An Post squads, he moved up to ProTeam level when he signed with Bora in 2015 for the first of three spells with the team.
Archbold, dubbed ‘The Flying Mullet’ due to his long hair and riding skills, quickly carved out a reputation as Sam Bennett’s trusted lead-out man, but the course of his career was altered significantly by the crash he suffered at the 2016 Tour.
He sustained a broken pelvis in the incident, and although he returned to competition within weeks, his following season was ruined by the after-effects of the crash, with a prolapsed disc ruling him out for most of the 2017 campaign.
“The low point was definitely my injuries after the Tour crash in 2016. That was a long period of recovery and fighting and trying to secure a job, that was the hardest thing,” said Archbold, who had a spell with Aqua Blue before dropping back to Continental level with Evo Pro at the start of 2019.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it back to the WorldTour, but I just wanted to keep trying. I was young and I was happy to give it a year or two at amateur level. If it didn’t work out, I’d have needed to find a new job to pay the bills, but thankfully Bora had an opening for me in April 2019, so I came back.”
Archbold was immediately back up to speed at WorldTour level, and he would follow Bennett to QuickStep when the Irishman moved there at the end of 2019. The highlight of Archbold’s career came at the very start of his two-year spell with QuickStep, when he beat George Bennett to win the New Zealand road title.
“I’ve had plenty of high points, but that was my personal high on the road,” he said. “It’s not too often I get to ride for myself on the bike.”
It was a deserved day of glory in a career spent largely in the diligent service of others, and, above all, in Bennett’s retinue.
Their cycling lives have intertwined tightly ever since their paths crossed at An Post in 2013, when they were two young men still unsure of their place in the sport. They would travel a considerable distance together in the decade that followed, and it was only fitting that Bennett was on hand at the Tour of Guangxi for his friend’s final bow.
“Sam’s the reason I’m a professional,” Archbold said simply, his voice raw.
They will go their separate ways together in 2024, with Bennett set to leave Bora-Hansgrohe to join AG2R Citroën, but their paths will surely cross again, just as they did in the closing kilometres in China.
Both men were distanced on the stiff climb on the run-in on the final stage and they rode the last kilometres together, sharing the journey one more time.
As they reached the finish, Bennett patted his friend’s shoulder gently, and Archbold’s emotion was visible when they wheeled to a halt a hundred metres or so past the finish line.
He leant silently over his handlebars for a moment while Bennett waited. There was no need for words, and none were spoken. After taking a bottle from the waiting soigneur, they set off again in the direction of the team hotel, together but with different roads ahead of them.
