Matej Mohoric
The stage races are beginning to rack up. I finished my third as a professional this week, the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali – a four- day race with three stages and two time trials. I had plenty of time to prepare for this one, since my last race day had been almost three weeks previous at the GP Lugano in Switzerland. It was down time I spent at home, in Slovenia, and with training conditions next to perfect it proved to be an opportunity to fall in love with my land all over again.
My climbing isn’t at the level I know it can be yet so at Coppi e Bartali my objectives were to help the team as much as I could and do good performances in both the individual and team time trials. The opening day saw bad weather conditions – driving rain and wind – which meant an added challenge for the opening road stage in the morning but particularly for the afternoon TTT. To make it easier for the smaller teams to challenge, each team was divided into two for the TTT, so 50 teams of four riders took to the start. I was part of the Cannondale B team and since we only had seven riders on the team, my mini-team had just three guys – myself, Guillaume Boivin and Alberto Bettiol – for the 13.3km test. It made it that much more difficult but with a bit of help from a tailwind we took third. It was not only the first TTT of my career but my first podium as a professional, too, so overall it was a very satisfying day’s work.
A fair performance in the final day’s (mostly uphill) ITT (24th, 48 seconds behind the winner, Dario Cataldo) meant I left happy with my week. I also chased down a big breakaway during the third stage for our sprinter Elia Viviani, who put the icing on the cake with a well deserved win. It’s something special when you work for a team all day and it pays off in the end. Thank you, Elia!
Three months into my pro career, with training going well and no injury worries, I’m really enjoying life. I know that my form is on its way. Now I head off to Tenerife for some solid training, in preparation for the highlight of this first part of the season – the Ardennes Classics. It will be a thrill to be part of races with such history at 19 years of age and in my first season at this level.