DAN’S LIFE IN CYCLING

‘ 08

For the first year in a professional career, especially back in 2008, you are supposed to arrive with your tail between your legs, ready to get bottles for your team- mates.

I, on the other hand, arrived with a certain swagger and what I later discovered was perceived as arrogance that I could step up and be competitive immediately. I had finished my U23 years winning races and I had chosen Slipstream Sports [now EF Education-Nippo] over many bigger teams to have opportunities immediately. It was a rocky start as I learned the ropes. I wasn’t doing badly but certainly wasn’t getting the results that I expected. In April I showed a glimmer of potential with sixth at Route Adélie de Vitré and then by June I had won my first stage race, the Route de Sud, following that with my one and only Irish national road race title. I took those first few months to learn the trade, the fight for position being much more brutal than anything else I had experienced before and with hindsight I was also massively held back by lingering allergy issues that I wouldn’t solve until 2011. But it was a year of education and development that stood me in good stead.