RIDER DIARIES
Dan, Alex, George and Emilia
Remember that feeling when you used to go back to school after the summer holidays having not picked up a pen for six weeks and felt incapable of writing a legible sentence? Or you get cramps in your hand after a few paragraphs? Well, we are back to racing season and despite the weeks of hard training, the feeling of riding in a compact peloton and the high-speed jostle for position always feel alien. Although, and perhaps the shorter off season has helped, I seem to get back into the groove a bit easier these days.
It isn’t just technique that you lose. I don’t think there is any rider who can truly train harder than they race. Being pushed to the limit by others always seems to hurt so much more than the self-inflicted pain of a solitary training ride. The anticipation before the first races is always the same. It’s the first chance to test yourself against your competitors – as a climber, this means the first hilltop finish of the season, which is perhaps the most brutal part of cycling.
These early season races always spring surprises. Riders who have done far more intensity than their peers come into the first races flying and pick up results, while others need a race or two to ride into good form. In 2016, I actually won the first road stage of Volta a la Valenciana on top of a climb, which came as a surprise - my real form was revealed on the final hilly stage, when I got dropped.
It all shows how unpredictable the first races are. Riders question themselves, tactics seem to play out differently as efforts are misjudged. This is part of the reason why much of the peloton chooses to use races to prepare for the WorldTour calendar starting in March. These days, momentum is key in cycling. Start badly and the pressure begins to build. The inevitable questions begin to surface. Who will be the last WorldTour team to win a race? Confidence suffers and suddenly winning seems even further away.
Contrast this with a strong start to the season and with confidence racing becomes easier. Using the Tour de France as an isolated case, winning stage 6 last year meant the whole atmosphere of the team changed. That’s not to say that you pack up and stop trying once you have won, but racing with selfbelief is a wonderful thing. I hope to hit the ground running this year.