From punch in the ribs to friends - Daan Hoole on his unlikely friendship with Fedorov

Hoole explained at the Live Slow Ride Fast podcast that he slipped past Fedorov through a corner and that the Kazakh rider responded immediately. “After that corner, he just got really angry, and he hit me hard in the ribs. Just a punch,” Hoole said. He added that it was not captured on camera. “It wasn’t on camera, otherwise I think he would’ve been taken out of the race,” he said.

Hoole said he did not respond in the moment because his focus was on surviving the brutality of the race itself. “I was more like, I have to hold the wheel. I’m going to ride the finale in Roubaix,” he said.

The pair crossed paths again weeks later in Calpe, during Hoole’s build-up to the Giro d’Italia. Hoole said he confronted Fedorov at a coffee stop and challenged him directly. “I saw him, and I got really angry. I was like, you want to fight, right? Let’s fight. Come,” he said. 

Hoole noted the language barrier, adding that a teammate had to translate: “He wants to fight you.”

According to Hoole, the tension eased over time and shifted noticeably later in the season at the Tour of Guangxi. 

“After that, in Guangxi, Alexey Lutsenko [teammate of Fedorov] came up to me and said, 'hey you’re friends',” Hoole said. “And since then, he’s my mate." 

Hoole added that the dynamic has changed in races, too. “Now, when I say ‘Left’ in the bunch, he lets me through,” he said.

Hoole’s comments arrive as he starts a new phase of his career after leaving Lidl-Trek at the end of a five-year spell. He departs with a Giro d’Italia time trial win in 2025 as the standout result of that period and has joined Decathlon CMA CGM, where he is expected to be an important part of the team’s sprint project built around Olav Kooij.

Outside the sprint plan, he will be given more freedom in the Classics. That will take some time to get used to. “So far I haven’t really proven that I can ride a proper finale in the Tour of Flanders or anything,” Hoole admits. “Now I’ll get more opportunities to do that. Riding a finale is the best feeling there is. But I actually enjoy helping someone win who can truly win more than finishing 25th myself.”