Interview Embret Svestad-Baardseng

He's only 21 years old but he already fought for victories against a double worldchampion. Embret Svestad-Baardseng has been one of the revelations of the most recent Tour of Slovakia. He continued on his strong form that he already showed in the months before. The 21 years old Norwegian started pracising winter sports like many other compatriots in their childhood but now found his way of living on the bike. Get to know the rider from Arkéa-B&B Hotels, who might challenge the climbers, more often in the years to come.

You recently had a very strong Tour of Slovakia between top pro riders. How did you experience this race?

It was nice, but it was most of all a satisfactory feeling, because I showed where my level i. It’s of course also very fun and inspiring to be racing against legends like Alaphillipe.

You showed yourself as a good climber. Would you like to become a GC rider or stage hunter?

I am not sure yet how far my capabilities extend, I like to think my tt is decent so I would for sure prefer to be a GC rider, but if the race is big enough of course stage hunting would be a good option.

How would you describe your personality as a person off the bike?

This one is hard, as my life is cycling my personality is very much cycling and to be a professional. But I don’t know really, maybe talkative and obsessed. In the fact that I’m obsessive over stuff like coffee and cycling where I like to keep up with all the nerdy stuff and keep my self distracted, like I love new cycling tech and fiddling with my Bianchi, and trying different things on my espresso machine.

Do you have a special routine ahead of the races?

It depends which type of race it is, if it’s a tt I’m very focused and have specific music playlists I make the day before, but on all other stages I like to try an relax and don’t think about the race while I’m still very much planning the race 😅 My special routine would probably be 2 coffees every morning before every race no more no less.

What made you choose for cycling instead of another sport?

I originally came from xc-skiing, but quickly found I was better at running, because I was quite skinny. So when a friend suggested I tried cycling in the summer instead of running I quickly fell in love and discovered I was a lot better at it than xc-skiing which made the choice easy.

You're riding for a French team this year. How is your French?

Haha, I’m not very good at speaking it, but I do understand quite a bit. I definitely want to get better and I’m trying so to describe my capabilities it’s I’m trying.😂

How will your Summer look like?

I can’t say too much, not official what I will be racing yet, but I’m back racing very soon. Otherwise a lot of training.

What is the most difficult part of the sport for you?

Probably managing own expectations, and feelings. You have to give yourself more credit than you think, atleast that’s what I find, because I can easily be to hard on myself and then you only end up stressed and disappointed 😅