Kasper Asgreen: Once a wolf, always a wolf!

This winter will see the end of an era, as Kasper Asgreen will leave Soudal Quick-Step after seven memorable years.

This candid review covers both the high and the lows of his time with the team and is equally sure to bring tears, smiles and laughter, and leaves us with only one thing left to say: Tak, Kaspy!

Video: Sam Baguet

I was thinking at that moment is he strong enough to beat funpool in the Sprint but Asen Roars across the line the biggest win of Kasper asen’s career flaws of the world champions his personality and also as a rider is an amazing person so so I really believed in him uh but then I went absolutely insane when he actually did it sometimes you have to say stop with pain in the heart I was there when he won ID har when he won t of flond I was there also when he won the stage to the front you stay optimistic and stay keep a positive mindset then I think uh most things become a lot easier in life it’s Flanders Classics it’s the scal Press it’s a race that’s been dominated by the sprinters and one Sprinter in particular Marcel K here to defend his title again I think with Casper um the story was always a little bit special I mean he came into the team because we we lost the rider um due to heavy crash in South Africa and we were looking around and then Kasper did a a a stage with us when he was younger but for one of reason or other he could not passing Pro not with us and not with others and I don’t have that much contact with Berner wish but Berner was not in in profal cycling anymore but he called me and I think that bner he’s well he’s a serious guy and he called me said Patrick you should take kaspar as I said why he a he’s a serious guy he’s strong strong he will see you will not regret I had already managed to secure a few good results at that point uh of the season so uh I was lucky to get to get the shot and uh that’s how it all started so I think his first race with us was um the SC press in Belgium and that he he made it already to the final he was already there important to close the gap to make it a bunch print FAO Jacobson’s going to do it wow and Jacobson four Quick Step pretty surreal experience to leave to leave the to leave home with a a suitcase full of my my my clothing from my Continental team and then flying back uh a couple of weeks later with a with a suitcase and and a bike from uh from quickstep so uh yeah it uh and already and already having started my first race and and being there helping out Fabio until 3K to go closing closing gaps and him taking him taking the victory so was a nice way to get started uh second time I be to race with him was the hammer series is in Norway that we did a team time trial and after the race he said um which at that moment I thought was a little bit arrogant he said even alone I would go I would have gone faster he’s quite TT man character also uh very very and German say ply very strict everything has to be all right he always thinking about how my bike can go faster very involved with ar damica and all those things Casper is just brilliant I must say so is that kind of guy that is waking up every day with some new ideas some some new stuff whatever just pushing you really till the last and you know the the limits so to find the best best best best material the best whatever so he wants everything perfect that’s Casper off the bike I think he’s a very very bright person uh on the bike he’s like many writers he’s sort of turning into like Dr Jacob Mr hide I mean I haven’t been in a bunch with him but I heard something you know when he’s coming he’s sort of fearless but that’s not really really the Casper you know when you speak to him he’s very gentle uh for sure he’s a very smart educated person he sort of Guy the one you call him you always call you back uh the first time that I met Casper was uh when he came to the team was about in the middle of the Season uh when he joined us and we went to the Hammer Series in uh Lindberg in the Netherlands that was his first race with us and on the way back after the race I need to bring him to the airport of Brussels so it was about 1 hour and a half that we need to drive and then in the middle of um yeah that transfer he was asking me uh to bring him to Amsterdam and I said then why because we need to go to Brussels uh yeah he said but if I fly from Amsterdam then I have a direct flight home and if I fly from Brussels I need to have an uh extra fright then so I told him yeah Casper listen uh at this moment we go to Brussels maybe the next seasons if you make some results we can swap to Amsterdam that was our first Contact they signed him to do a bit uh the job that I was doing but immediately we saw he was capable of doing so much more I think he fitted in very well with how the teen was designed sure at that time I think he had a remarkable influence of how he did in the classics with so many guys capable of of winning the race and then he was for sure one of uh one of the best of the best so it was a it was nice to race uh to race those races with him he improved I must say quite quickly in the team and you saw he had a he had a he had the quality I mean if you see Casper in normal life if you see him on a TT bike then you see the length of his legs which is quite impressive to be honest he’s one of the best looking Riders on the bike when you see him settle pedaling the way he’s pedaling with his upper body with his skinny legs you know for me the same league like V po V fard Francisco MOS you know Eddie Ms he’s he looked like a moar on the bike I love was ring so then we selected him I think for I think the best team time trial we ever did in inbrook and he was there Quick Step floors have gone to the top of the leaderboard by 30 seconds and I must say he also had a very very big part in the in the victory there was one really hard climb in the course he did it all by himself he said there the pace for for the team this is the speed of Quick Step look at that well over 100k an hour they are absolutely flat out this team are racing and Racing for gold I also love the way he pushes everyone to the Limit they know they can still get silver here [Applause] today that was some incredible incredible experience there to to be on the podium with the with the guys uh like uh like tavra and Eve and shakman and and these guys that I had been been watching on television only only the the years uh the years before so really very nice and as a new Pro to handle your your nerves in in the way he did was was quite impressive and from there on I think think we knew he was uh he was just a guy that that would give us victories and and it would have been then this was very important for the team yeah when I when I came in in in April there first of April I joined the team it was like the only thing I asked if it was possible to maybe be part of the the team time trial Squad at the world championships at the end of the year because I knew was the last time was going to be there and I consider myself a fairly decent time trialist so it was uh it I thought it was would would be a nice it would be a nice experience to have before they they shut down that uh that discipline and um so it was the only thing I asked of the of the team when I when I joined uh otherwise I was just there to learn and and help as much as I possibly could and he was young was a little bit a risk for us to to take uh young he was not that young but he was quite new to take him in the in the in the words DT at TT and he was one of the motors of of the [Music] wi we’re talking about the rondan blander this a distillation of everything that cycling is about was nobody of us in the first uh small groups behind so we knew or it will be second or it will be no price no result so we decided to to let them write a lot of people didn’t understand why but it’s not our nature we want to win but sometimes you have to understand you can’t win so this time we decided to let them ride to to to take the second place I think was his first two of flers if I’m not mistaken um but he got already second then he knew we really had the capacities um to come close into of flers he was also the guy who who who who invested a lot in um the knowledge of the course so he always came a few days early he always uh asked for to do Recon with him so that you really knew the course I think one year one he was also there three days before we did the Recon and he actually knew where he wanted to attack and he was very precise on that yeah and he raced all the time he uh the flam is classic are made for him because beside many other races almost 90% of the races the year which is very controlled by teams I think FL flamish Classics are are really open and that that really suits him is Bob jungas as well just waiting waiting biting his time he can’t wait too long well vanard is there in the gold and black looking wash Bish but they’re all going to get stung if they don’t watch out here EF Education First with a might bit of astrology now this is not the the end of it don’t forget it was uh probably one of the hardest races I’ve ever done I think uh didn’t really know what I was going into and I was also active from the beginning to the to the end because I was yeah I was there as a as a helper uh so I was one of the first uh that was controlling the breakaways in the beginning uh riding a bit and then uh when the first attacks started to come I followed and somehow I managed to get off the front and for a long time I was off the front until the last time on the qu mon the favorites came back and yeah B he passed and went solo to the Finish but I managed to get over with the other favorites uh and then uh also get over the the the the P back and then on the last 10 km stretch to to Odin I I got a gap uh thanks to thanks to Bob jungles especially him he he like let me slide away through a through a curve and and then he uh he just yell go go go and then I was just I have a gap I need to go now I need to go I really didn’t have the legs to do it and I I had so much cramps the last the last 2 kilom I I yeah it was insane hard but incredible to to do it Al Philip did not have the same legs as his teammate Casper Asing carrying great form out of the E3 which he had won you are discussing his contract and uh he wanted absolutely speak with me and I had to speak in this time with Ricardo and the DS’s and it took some time and I said yeah hurry up you have to sign him and then he wanted to speak with me personally Casper he said listen Patrick I know that you don’t believe in the team in me that I can Sprint but I can and if you don’t believe it I go I go to another team and then he refreshed my mind that he won a Sprint in California a bunch Sprint where he had to win the Tour even and another Sprint another Sprint I forgot it already and to of Switzerland or something and I still remember the meeting and I said to to Ricardo and the guys listen if you do the meeting please don’t say he can Sprint because he won’t sign he won’t sign and then the Saturday I came there I had to contract with me he said yeah I’m concentrated for tomorrow and I’m nervous and can we do it on Monday so we let it uh the race go and um everybody remember on certain moment he was in the Breakaway mat pool who everybody thought was unbeatable the days before we went already on Friday to the to the team hotel to um yeah to prepare everything there because the start was in ANP and I remember that on Friday that U yeah there was like talk that I asked him if you go with those Riders like from the pool to the finish line and it becomes to a Sprint do you think you you can win and without any second he need to think he said directly yes I can win from them and what did I say yes it’s possible sounds sounds like me Casper is not somebody who doubts himself is a a firm believer as I am in Casper as grain I’m not saying he’s a egocentric or something which he really is not but he for sure is a believer in Casp but yeah t flers St of Flanders 260 n kilm and also radio commentators TV commentators everybody said yeah he crashed it was a big crash was in the middle of the crash no Panic just easy Just In His Radio I need a bike we just gave him a new new bike went back to the peton and then yeah all the rest we all know he suffered always on on the on the cop B there was was like a little bit of a a black beast for him but he came back and at certain point he was in the lead with with ferp and I must say CER was not slow we knew that uh he has a certain speed so I must say without because it’s always to say afterwards we knew we had the chance to win even in the Sprint against against fpol especially after a very hard race with two always is but then I heard Tom Steels saying in the radio go so go for it go for it we believe in you you can’t Sprint you can’t Sprint I said that no way Casper is going to not win uh because he already became second and it’s not coming all this way to do second again I was at the finish line with the colleague Kevin ver and I remember that Kevin said ah it will be difficult maybe to beat funders pool if they go in a Sprint with to but then my uh my answer was listen Kevin I think he has a good chance because he’s convinced we spoke about that on Friday and in the end uh he was right 300 met marker comes up right now and the shadow shots start to sharpen as knives work and these guys with 250 M to go can he do it will he do it Vander pole lights it up and Asen comes up and over the top asen’s coming alongside asen’s there but Vander pole responds it’s mow and Mano he got to have another oh he hasn’t got it he’s blown up at the very last and the as scen Roars across the line daddy show really he had uh yeah he had the legs to win to win the big Classics and then still in his uh National Jersey was also nice the way he Rod uh was impressive uh at that moment he was for sure the the strongest Rider of the pon yeah I was just so happy when I he that he won and when I saw the image after the race uh the way he won the Sprint and uh he just deserve it it was the the his dream to win um to flers and yeah this also something I will never forget and it was of course a a marvelous thing but the nice party was Co but we red B&B and we could do a lot small party uh in between us and uh yeah I was rinking with them and partying with him but Don said I cannot say this word with the F and car but I say yeah again I waited too long and to cost me a lot of money 2021 was one of the first Finish Lines I did in a classic and immediately you won uh it was really something special together with Steven Franken who is your uh main swor Steven to to share that moment with with Steven and you amazing you also saw the picture afterwards for me is one of the most beautiful pictures they took about me together with you and Steven very special was a very special [Music] B I don’t know if it was my goal but it was definitely my dream you know it’s uh uh the the spring Classics has a special place in uh in my in my heart I think it’s it’s the most exciting races of the of the whole year and um I always dreamed to be one of the the big uh leaders in the in the classics and coming into to 2021 I had a few a few good runs in the in the classics already with the the winning K the second in Flanders so I had moved up a bit in the in the ranks in the in the team and I was now one of their protected Riders and uh to then um go and and take those two victories and and repay that that trust and the work that the team had had put in to to get me to that point was uh was really really uh really really nice so I never really looked to what the other guys or the other teams were doing because I I knew when I had to be there uh I didn’t always succeed with being there when I had to be there in the beginning but uh I was [Laughter] trying and the great is still away there was a long story before we started cop the T of France Dan the two FRS came 200 M from his house and uh he did very very nasty crash in Switzerland and I don’t think afterwards it’s so easy that he was 100% ready to to do the tour but of course a Danish guy to to to starter to the front and and his land will be probably unique and then passing through your your village in the front of your he he should have killed his mother to be part of the team and he’s an honest guy really he’s an honest guy he did and this leg every day his sadps every day was losing volume we did some rehab with him and he arrived at the start of the tour in Copenhagen but myself I needed to go home there because I was covid positive so I didn’t s any anymore in the first days and after I think 8 or 9 or 10 days I went back when I was again negative and I remember that I had him again the first time on the table in loam there was a finish in loam that year and I remember when he entered the room and he goes on my table that I saw his leg where he had the injury and comparing to the other leg he had almost no uh no muscle anymore there but the difference between the both legs was so so big that I never saw this as a fysio ever my career as a physio I never saw this and and then um that night I remember 1:00 we had a meeting with our team doctor and the team management that we took him out of the two the friends because it was not possible anymore and then to come back you know training tooo hard I think it’s killed his body you know and was some very very tough very tough times he had and then he was out for 8 months it’s a really really long time then he fighted back with ups and downs and and I remember the first win after was probably the year after the Danish Nationals and you sort of now he’s better back on the right track you know and I believe he can win the big one it was the 18th stage we didn’t have a victory yet which was the first time it took us this long then a breakway from from from start uh and then one moment uh Victor compers joined the breakway and they went full gas until the punch almost catched him and he want to spread uh unespected between [Music] [Applause] one the stage by about 10 [Music] m for us it was quite quite emotional um to win a stage after after a difficult period but the way he did it was was was also yeah was exceptional I was going back well for CP for the whole team I knew was back yeah it was like the confirmation that okay now now I’m back now I can now I can put this Rehabilitation work and this injury completely behind me and say that that doesn’t have any influence uh anymore the way one often you see it after the Finish Line when also the people of the organization are very enthusiastic then you know it was a nice one and I would not say Kasper was very surprised uh yeah it’s just a very special person but it makes him very fun to work with for me at least and the next day he almost Born Again doing again such a long Breakaway with the moror because yeah saved a little bit uh over to the fs of course a big relief uh for me personally but also for for all the people that help me help me through it the the Visos and the doctors and the trainers and sports directors all all the support staff that we have is they also put in a lot of work and a lot of effort into to help me get back from that injury and it’s also nice to put uh put the dot at the end of the that and and then we can move on from it I really couldn’t have done it without Pascal Victor and yonas they all uh they all did amazing out there and [Music] uh I think we both remember U when I caught him in the middle of the season I think he’s hard beating was going from 60 to 180 when I called them to to finally say we going to engage you and uh he never forgot what we did for him and of course we can’t forget what he meant for the team and I’m going say Casper was always somebody who gave a lot to the team he was always grateful to the team also if you did something for him you always get it twice back so you can never blame Kasper of not doing his job and and doing uh what he had to do um in good and bad days please do me a favor never ever change just remain like you are just good old Casper so in the end um Casper on the bike is a great Rider but Casper as a person for myself is also a great person luckily we still ride in the same Bunch so we will see each other a lot and I wish him the best because he he deserve it and uh and uh yeah it will be strange to be not together anymore on the same team but yeah we are Pros there are contracts there are money and sometimes you have to say stop with pain in the heart of course the public doesn’t know this but uh at the end of the story we are all human no casby um I think that you will remember our last conversation on the last massage in Z with the worlds this year um for me I wish you all the best and um I just hope that the old as green and you know what I mean with the old as green I don’t need to explain this this is between you and me that he will come back so I hope in your next team that you will find again the shape and uh the power to make the same results as um we did the past years ago in our team so wish you all the best and um like we also said to each other our friendship is not not depending of a of a team jersey it’s been so much fun like uh entering the the world’s best Classics team uh when when I when I turned Pro was really a dream coming true it was uh like I mentioned earlier uh was my big dream to become a a Classics Rider and coming into quickstep and and learning to do the classics with uh with quickstep and with the Tom Steels and Wilfred Peters and in the in the car and the riders that we had there ttra Shield bear um star jungles um it’s it was such amazing writers and and and sports directors and and but also coaches and yeah the whole setup mechanics about the technical side and like the whole structure built around the the classics there was an an incredible environment to to learn from so I will forever be be grateful for that and I will also forever be be grateful for all the the Belgian fans it’s uh it’s such a pleasure to to ride in in Belgium in the in the quickstep jersey and and uh getting uh getting cheered on even when you’re just out for uh for a coffee ride people people recognize you and it’s um it’s something special and I hope I hope even though my jersey will be different uh next year that people will not uh people will not stop cheering for me and uh I will definitely not stop cheering for uh for the team that’s uh that’s for sure then if you would have to look at yourself because when I look at you and I think a lot of fans are when they look at you and they admire you for what you do over your K of doing on a bike and looks like you you you don’t you’re not afraid of anything okay so if you had to describe yourself just by the name of a superhero who would you be uh I’m not a superhero I’m just uh playing on my bike