At the age of thirty, he had already been voted Coach of the Year twice. Nevertheless, Hugo Haak abruptly said goodbye to the track sprinters at the end of 2021, because he was empty. He is back at the World Cup in Glasgow, but as an assistant.
Just before the decisive heat of the sprint final in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Haak whispers some last words of encouragement to defending champion Harrie Lavreysen. Even though the former national coach has just been active again in the track selection for a week, after he had worked for the road team of cycling influencer Bas Tietema earlier this year.
Lavreysen doesn’t want to say it out loud, but it’s clear that he played an important role in Haak’s surprise return to track cycling. Coach and pupil have always maintained close contact. “My click with Hugo has always been very good,” says 26-year-old Lavreysen. “A nod from him can be enough for me to know what he means. I am very happy that he has been added to the staff.”
Haak is in Scotland as an assistant, not as the person with ultimate responsibility. That position lies with the Briton Mehdi Kordi, who succeeded René Wolff as national coach at the end of last year. It creates a special situation, because Kordi was Haak’s assistant for just three years in the past.
“Mehdi and I have of course talked about that,” says Haak in a quiet corner of the velodrome. “I am super aware of what the current situation is. That Mehdi has his own way of leadership and that I fully agree with it. It is his program, I am there to help him as best as possible.”
Hook smiles a little. “Normally I would start in this role,” he says. “I actually do my career the other way around. But I really like this now. I never think: if only things had turned out differently. Because I wouldn’t have wanted to miss everything I’ve experienced in the past for the world.”
‘It’s more every man for himself now’
The team feeling among the track sprinters seems to be less strong than in the period that Hugo Haak was still national coach. Jeffrey Hoogland admitted on Tuesday that it is more “every man for himself” than in the past.
“I notice that our team has become very individual,” says the world champion in the kilometer time trial. “My relationship with Harrie Lavreysen has also changed a bit. Whether that is better or worse? That depends on how you look at it. Is a very close friendship good for winning individual gold? Or is a competitive battle better? I have no idea. “
Haak’s unusual and crazy career
When Haak joined the Dutch track cyclists for the first time in almost two years last Monday, it felt within a few minutes as if he had never left. “It was: hi, here I am again,” says the 31-year-old from Utrecht. “Funny that it was actually instant as it always has been.”
Haak was the national coach of the track sprinters from 2018 to 2021. He started at the age of 27 with the group around Lavreysen, barely a year after he had to stop as a top athlete due to physical problems. Before he fully realized that he was now a coach, his signature was already under countless Olympic, World and European titles.
“You can say that I have had a special career,” says Haak. “Normally it takes a coach ten or twenty years to achieve the success I had in my first three years. Actually it’s crazy. And there’s no book on how to deal with that.”
Haak was faced with doubts, especially when he was named Coach of the Year in front of the entire Dutch sports world in 2019. “It was as if I was shaken awake by that prize. I am only 28, but I am ultimately responsible for the most successful Olympic team in the Netherlands towards the Tokyo Games. Suddenly I thought: what is actually happening here?”
Daan de Ridder is a cycling reporter
Daan reports the ‘Super World Cup’ cycling for NU.nl from Glasgow. Read more stories from Dan here.
Why did Haak stop after the Tokyo Games?
Haak put those doubts away as much as possible up to and including the summer of 2021. But after the very successful Games for the track sprinters (three times gold, one silver and one bronze) that was no longer possible.
“As a national coach, I had been maniacal about one thing: working towards Tokyo as best as possible,” he says now. “That gave me a huge kick. But after the Games I also noticed that it had cost me a lot of energy. The battery was empty, I’m very honest about that.”
In November 2021, a month before being named Coach of the Year for the second time, Haak announced his retirement. He continued to work until March and then began a search. Is being a coach really my dream job? Do I want to be ultimately responsible? Will I stay in track cycling?
Jitters disappeared again
Those questions led him to something new at the end of last year. He signed a contract as a sports manager with TDT-Unibet Cycling Team, the road team of YouTuber Tietema.
Setting up a completely new team – even if it was at the lowest professional level – gave Haak a lot of energy. But once the organization was up and the games started, those jitters disappeared again.
“The road has a completely different culture than the track. That click was less,” says Haak. “And of course I worked at a completely different level than I was used to. I noticed that I missed the feeling of going for the win every game. I missed the job.”
Hugo Haak (right) was a successful national coach of the track sprinters for many years. Photo: ANP
Will Haak now return full-time to track cycling?
That seed was already planned during the Track Cycling World Championships in October last year. In Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, Haak sat in the stands with former short track national coach Jeroen Otter for four days. Just as a fan.
“At that time I didn’t have the feeling that I really wanted to be down there in the middle ground as a coach again,” says Haak. “But I knew I missed working with people at the very highest level to achieve something.”
The former rider therefore accepted this year when he was asked by the KNWU cycling association whether he wanted to be an assistant coach at the World Cup in Glasgow. He had time, because he had left Tietema’s team on 1 July.
“If you had told me two years ago that I would be back on track so soon, I wouldn’t have believed you,” says Haak. “But now that I’ve taken some distance, I’ve seen that this sport is really cool. And that this is where I belong.”
Will Haak stay after the World Cup?
For the time being, Hugo Haak only has a deal with the KNWU for the World Cup in Glasgow. Whether he will continue as an assistant to the track sprinters, for example until the Paris Olympics next summer, is still unclear.
“I really don’t know yet if I want to return to track cycling full-time,” says Haak, who became a father for the first time six months ago.
“This tournament is a great way to discover that. I said before the World Cup: I will only do this if I add value to the entire group. We will evaluate after the tournament whether we succeeded. And how we will continue towards Paris Whether I ultimately want more than just being an assistant? Yes, but you always keep that as a top athlete.
2023-08-09 03:11:05
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