He coaches many of the top triathletes in the world – but Dan Lorang’s main job is actually with top pro cycling team Bora-hansgrohe, where he is Head of Performance / Head Coach.
We rightly make much in the triathlon world of the multi-sport exploits of the likes of Dan’s latest recruit Taylor Knibb, three-time Canadian TT champ Paula Findlay and the unique talents of Cam Wurf.
But Lorang belongs very much in that rarified bracket himself, and later this week he and his Bora-hansgrohe squad, soon to be Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, go into arguably their biggest Tour de France in years.
‘It’s really your passion’
They’ve racked up Grand Tour stage wins over the last few years – plus the overall at the 2022 Giro d’Italia – but their signing of Primož Roglič has definitely changed the dynamic.
Roglič, the reigning men’s Olympic TT champion, won the Giro last season and is a three-time Vuelta a España winner.
He landed the Tour de France’s traditional warm-up event, the Critérium du Dauphiné, earlier this month and only Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, who between them have won the last four editions of Le Tour, are better fancied for outright glory in Nice next month.
And asked how on earth he manages to cram everything in, Lorang has a simple but effective response, telling TRI247: “I always keep the same answer. I don’t really think about it, to be honest. I’m just doing it.
“In terms of balancing the whole work. As long as you really love what you’re doing, you can manage a lot of load because it’s not really load, it’s really your passion.”
‘I have no favourite’
He says more of a challenge is making sure he doesn’t favour any of his triathlete stars over the others, explaining: “I think at heart what is not so easy sometimes is you said I have three of the best female triathletes in the world and they are competitors. So they go against each other.
“So always hoping that they still believe that I give hundred percent for every one of them. Sometimes this pops up in my mind. Not often, but sometimes it comes and then I put it aside because I can honestly say that’s exactly what I’m doing. I have no favourite.
“If I am on the phone to Lucy [Charles-Barclay], I’m 100% with Lucy. If I have Anne [Haug], it’s the same and with Taylor, the same. So for me it’s really separated.
“And so hopefully the women can keep it the same. So that is the only concern that I sometimes have.”
Pressure ramping up – in a good way
But he does admit that Bora-hansgrohe do go into this year’s Tour, which starts in Florence on Saturday, with heightened expectations.
“For sure the pressure on the team is higher,” he agrees. “That’s why I’m also happy that we brought Primož’s coach on board with us so that we have a little bit of that environment.”
And there’s another key difference too – from the Tour onwards, the team will become ‘Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’ after Red Bull was last month confirmed as the majority owner and title sponsor, with a long-term project of winning the Tour de France and becoming the best team in the world.
“With Red Bull coming on board, the team will be getting more attention,” says Lorang. That also potentially means more work for everyone on the team, with Dan adding: “It’s the same for me, like for the bus driver, like for the general manager, but it doesn’t matter. It’s for good cause, because there’s a nice project going on for the future. So all good.
“And above all I have a good family who supports me. That is really important – otherwise [all this] would not be possible.”
A momentous few weeks await – from Tour de France to the Olympics and much, much more – including the women’s IRONMAN World Championship, where he had the one-two last year, back in the Tour’s final-stage destination of Nice.
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