COACH’S CORNER
Joe got brought to my attention through Alex Dowsett. I keep in touch with Alex, and in one of our conversations he said there was a guy with great potential but also the right mentality for fitting into the team. I value that a lot, when alumni reach out to me and tell me stuff. I looked into Joe and called him. I like his mentality and he’s eager to learn, despite the fact that he clearly has a lot of talent. It seems to me that he knows what he wants, and he wants to improve and use the tools that are offered to him and move forward like that. I think he will be a good fit for the team and hopefully at some point in the future we can finally meet and have a civilised conversation. I never put any expectations on any rider, my only expectation is that they’re honest and straightforward with me. We are here to help each other, we are here to help them progress into becoming the best rider they can possibly be. If I have that feedback from the rider, it doesn’t matter whether they make it or not, although it does matter to the rider. Joe has that. He has that desire and mentality. From what I gather, he maybe has a little bit too much sometimes, which is not beneficial, but we will assess all that when we get to a training camp. He’s definitely motivated and hungry to get there, in a positive and healthy way.