>I video chatted with Paul last night, and he said he was going to win four stages in China. I'm hoping for five," says Johan Molly, the discoverer of the French thoroughbred, with a wink. "I think it's possible, because Paul is a real star."

>That wasn't the case in the spring. Magnier himself had announced that he wanted to try to keep up with the big guns in the Flemish classics. But the Frenchman didn't show up.

>I saw in Gent-Wevelgem that things weren't going well for Paul," says Molly. "Everything seemed fine on the first climb up Kemmelberg, but then he suddenly lost all his energy."

>The cause: incorrect training. "Paul had trained a lot for intensity, but not for endurance. As a result, his bobbin was quickly worn out."

>Magnier looked completely different physically due to the emphasis on explosiveness. "He looked like a bodybuilder. Tim (Merlier) was worried and told Paul not to overdo it."

>To save his season, Magnier changed trainers after the Classics. Frederik Broché (formerly of Belgian Cycling) got the French rising star back on track.

>At the Heistse Pijl, I saw the sharp and fresh Paul I know again. He was no longer the bodybuilder he was at the beginning of the season."

It's kinda crazy to me that there's trainers that still don't let their riders train on endurance and long races and get away with it