Lights

Comments

Laurence Pithie at the Tour of Flanders.

The Classics contender who hates rain: Ten questions with Laurence Pithie

The rising star tells us about his perfect long ride, the relaxing value of doom scrolling, and his special talent for writing essays in school.

Dane Cash
by Dane Cash 31.12.2024 Photography by
Cor Vos and Kristof Ramon
More from Dane +

In the latest entry in our Ten Questions series, Escape Collective caught up with Laurence Pithie, the rising star who is joining Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for next season after turning heads for Groupama-FDJ in 2024.

The 22-year-old New Zealander tells us about his how his father and brother helped him make the jump from running to cycling, how he thrived in English class without actually reading the books, and much more …


Dane Cash: What is your pre-race ritual?

Laurence Pithie: To be honest, I don’t really have any rituals. I’m not a superstitious person – the only thing I won’t do is I won’t shave my legs on a race day. Bad luck. But in terms of rituals there’s really nothing that I do every race day.

DC: What is the most memorable moment from the most memorable day of your career?

LP: The crashes are pretty memorable. Crashing in Roubaix, that’s a moment where remember exactly how I went down there and the aftermath of that. That’s in terms of disappointments. Memorable moments with happiness it would probably be winning Cadel’s. It was … not a relief but just happy.

DC: What was your best subject in school?

LP: English … I’m not a big reader at all, actually, but I could always write a pretty good essay. You’re not going to believe this but I didn’t read books. My agent for cycling gave me a book this year, and I was telling him a story of how I went, probably since I was 10 years old, without reading a book all through high school. But like in English class, we’d get books to read, so usually I just watched a movie and would go off that. Just read a few reviews from the book, figure out a few quotes to memorize, and just run off that, and make the rest up.

I don’t have any backups [to cycling], but if I had to choose something, I always wanted to be a marine biologist when I was a kid. I thought the sea and the animals were super cool – I always had an obsession with fish – but now it’s kind of scary for me, actually, to see.

Laurence Pithie took a big win in January at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
Laurence Pithie wasted little in showing off his speed in 2024, sprinting to victory at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

DC: How would your friends describe you without mentioning cycling?

LP: It’s probably something I couldn’t say on camera. They’d probably call me … They would probably hone in that I can be quite a nasty person, but it all comes from a place of love. But yeah, I’ve got some dark humor to me that they see probably a lot more than anyone else – but they enjoy it.

DC: What are your favorite movies or shows to watch? Are you watching anything right now?

LP: No, I am not. I think I finished Netflix. Completed it. I like Suits. That’s a good one. I’ve gone through a lot of series. When I’m on the road, I just download a few things on my iPad and watch it, but I’m more of a movie guy … You know the movie King Arthur? I think it’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. I really like that … And my go-to for getting cuddly with the boys would be Notting Hill.

DC: What is your favorite way to unwind when you’re not riding or even training?

LP: TikTok. Just doom scrolling. It’s always a good way to relax in bed at night, kill some time.

DC: What does your perfect long ride look like?

LP: Perfect long ride would probably be back home in New Zealand. I’d do a big loop out to Purau, Port Levy, come back around the bays and then stop at a place called Niche for a coffee and a savory scroll. Friends makes it makes it better. Do a few attacks, little races in there. No efforts, but just some race moments … Sun, 30° (C). I’m a fair-weather rider. I’m a Classics rider who hates the rain.

Laurence Pithie at the Classics.
Laurence Pithie earned plenty of screen time in his Classics campaign.

DC: Who were your biggest influences getting into cycling?

LP: It would have been my dad and brother who were my biggest influences. I had an injury related to running, I was a big runner before, and they were both cycling. So yeah, I started riding, going out for rides with them. Half the time they’d be pushing me home, just keeping me at it, hand on the back sort of thing. I remember going out riding with my brother and I couldn’t get up the climbs, so he’d be pushing me the whole way up. If it wasn’t for Dad and Campbell I probably wouldn’t be here.

DC: What is the Kiwi thing that you miss most when you’re spending most of the year in Europe?

LP: Probably just easy-going lifestyle, having friends and family around. I feel a lot freer when I’m back home in New Zealand. It’s not all cycling, cycling, cycling. Here I live alone, 24/7 it’s about cycling [Ed. note – Pithie’s European base is Nice, France]. But at home I can go out with mates and catch up with old school friends, go for a round of golf. It’s different a lifestyle, the culture is very different as well.

DC: What do you wish non-Kiwis knew about New Zealand?

LP: I wish people knew how much talent there was. I think it’s super hard for Kiwis to make a name in professional cycling. It’s going more and more that there will be less and less pros coming from there because of the amount of sacrifice you have to make. If I can expose and help bring forward some of the younger generation into Europe and help them get recognized, and I’d like to do that.

Did we do a good job with this story?