PICNICS ARE THE NEW NORMAL

It’s good to be back, well almost. I’m currently typing this column from a mountain chalet in France, high in the mountains with my team, and I must admit, I’ve missed it.

Obviously this is not a normal training camp, this is the ‘new normal’. As is to be expected from Ineos, every detail has been carefully considered – usually we would stay in a hotel but here we are in self-contained chalets.

We have a chef who takes care of the shopping, carers who now wear PPE when giving massages, our own rooms, and everything works under the bubble system. The biggest sacrifice is the cafe stop; the highlight of every ride is now gone, but once again the team have catered for this. On rest days we ride and stop at a picturesque location, unfold the camp chairs, turn on the gas cookers and brew some coffee (5 Rings coffee, of course).

Being back on camp makes everything feel so much more real and with racing just around the corner it’s perfect for fine-tuning before the resumption of the season. It’s easy to take things like this for granted; the freedom of being able to fly, ride in different countries and travel doing what I love. I feel I’m now ready for what will be the busiest end of season of my career.

Dumoulin’s bonus quote on Strava: ‘I have it, but purely for routes. I don’t follow anyone and nobody can follow me. When I have stopped, I [will] make all the rides public and I suddenly hope to have all KOMS. That is my “master plan”. @Vanderkloor