By Teemu Virtanen
The Visma Ski Classics Season IX has been an eventful pro tour with 12 races all around Europe. There were 32 pro teams registered for this season, and it takes a lot of hard work to run a team with talented athletes. These pro teams and their skiers are the soul of the sport and their team leaders the heart that keeps the wheel rolling.
Quite often these hard-working people behind the scenes go unnoticed and their enormous input may not be publicly recognized. Therefore, the Visma Ski Classics organization wants to put these pro team directors on a pedestal and honor them for their relentless work for their teams and for the sport in general.
At the final banquet in Levi, a special “Pro Team Director of the Year” award was granted to one of the six nominees. The nominated team captains were the following: Anton Järnberg, Lager 157 Ski Team, Kim Mäenpää, Team Mäenpää, Gustaf Korsgren, Team Ramudden, Vetly Thyli, Team Kaffebryggeriet, Lukas Bauer, ED System Bauer Team, and Tore Bjørseth Berdal, Team Koteng. Two of these pro team directors are still active pro skiers; Berdal and Thyli. The former is the winner of Vasaloppet this year, and the latter managed to be 4th in Kaiser Maximilian Lauf in January.
All of these candidates possess the needed qualities for a great pro team leader, and they certainly have the passion and love for long distance skiing. They are, and have always been, willing to go the extra mile for the sake of their teams and for skiing by and large. Therefore, the choice to select just one winner of these six was extremely arduous, but after careful consideration the jury decided that the award should go to the Czech ski legend Lukas Bauer who now heads his own team ED System Bauer Team.
Bauer’s unwavering passion for the sport, his determination to build a multi-cultural team with pro skiers of different nationalities and his endless energy to work for the benefit of his team were the factors that were recognized when selecting the winner in this category.
“This award was a positive shock to me as I expected the other nominees to win,” Bauer admits with an emotional tone in his voice. “But this means a lot to me knowing all the work I’ve put into my team and I’m constantly thinking about the next steps. This award is not only for me but for the whole team, our partners and our fans. They all have supported my actions. I’m completely devoted to this team, and I’m happy that we got this amazing recognition.”
Before starting his directorial duties in Ed System Bauer Team, Lukas Bauer was a successful professional skier who achieved three Olympic medals, one silver and two bronze, and two silver medals at the World Championships. He also won Tour de Ski twice and the overall World Cup during his professional ski career.
“Since I’ve been a World Cup skier, I realized that I needed to build an international team,” Bauer continues enthusiastically. “If you want to fight against the Scandinavian domination in skiing, you need to have a strong team, which you can’t do by having pro skiers from one Central-European country. I think this mix of different nationalities brings in an inspirational spirit, which helps us to achieve our goals. Of course, having an international and multi-cultural team can sometimes be a challenge with logistics and such, but it’s a small price to pay for our success. We’ve been very active in promoting our team and making noises, which you need as a team from Central-Europe. Of course, this award will help a bit when taking our next steps.”
While his team members are taking a break from active skiing and racing, the work continues for Lukas Bauer as he is now finalizing the season overview and getting ready for upcoming sponsor and partner negotiations. The team returns to serious action at the end of May or early June when they have their first traditional summer training camp.
Before letting Bauer go and do what he does best, running his team, it makes sense to ask him about the qualities of a great pro team director.
“You have to have the heart for it! You have to like skiing, it has to be your passion. That’s the most important thing. Then come people around you. If your team is mixed well, then just look at their enthusiasm and let that make you and the team become better. So once more I want to thank my team as this award is really for them!”
