“That’s someone’s little boy down there” — Luke Rowe reflects on the harsh realities of cycling

Luke Rowe’s first year as a sports director at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale has been far more intense than he expected. The 35-year-old Welshman retired last year, ending a fruitful and longstanding career in which he only rode for one team: INEOS Grenadiers (formerly Team Sky).

Rowe recently granted an interview to Rouleur Live in which he admitted that the biggest shock has been witnessing crashes from the team car, an experience that has affected him in deeply personal ways.

“The worst thing about being DS, and I never thought about this as a rider. You're in the car, you're driving along... and you hear a crash on the radio,” Rowe explained. “You're thinking, ‘I hope that isn't one of ours,’ and if you don't hear your name, you go past the crash.”

Rowe said the reality is brutally simple. “Any rider who has crashed and is not seriously hurt, is stood up, and they're on their bike, and if their bike is ok, they're gone. So, by the time you pass the crash, any rider who is still here is hurt. And it's like, that's someone's son, husband… whoever it is, you're like ‘that's a poor guy and he is in a lot of pain.’”

He admitted that nothing prepared him for the suffering he now witnesses up close, even if he endured that personally whilst he was on the bike. “I never thought about that, and as you’re driving through, you’re just seeing grown men, in a lot of pain, sometimes unconscious, bleeding, broken bones… that’s the shit part.”

The contrast with the highs of racing is painful, a marked characteristic of cycling. “When you're racing, being part of guys winning races, it's fantastic, it's a success. But when you see that, it's like that's someone's little boy down there and he is in a mess, and that's the part that I hate.”

Despite the emotional challenges, Rowe has found real purpose in his new role. What drives him now is not survival in the peloton, but chasing a historic milestone for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale: winning the team’s first monument.

“No two days are the same. It really does motivate me. I’m very much in the Classics part of it,” Rowe said. “The team has existed for 34 years and in the five monuments our best ever results are three second-places and two third-places. We have never won a monument, but that is super motivating.”

Rowe said joining a new environment gave him the chance to contribute to something meaningful and make a much bigger impact than the one he thinks would have made staying at Ineos. “I could have gone to another team, stayed at Ineos... but if I could join this team and make a small, something difference to do some good things, and if we were to win a monument after five podiums in 34 years… to me, that just gets me out of bed in the morning.”

When asked what it would take for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale to finally win a monument, Rowe said the team still needs to improve in many aspects, some more realistic than others. “There’s a long list. There is equipment, recruitment is obviously the biggest one,” he noted, joking, “If we could sign Mathieu van der Poel tomorrow, we would have a very good chance of winning a monument. But that’s the easy way, and that’s the expensive way.”

Instead, Rowe prefers a systematic, gradual approach. “To me, it's like we're on a mission. When can we achieve this? How can we achieve this? And let’s just slowly get there.”