DAN’S LIFE IN CYCLING

Although I clearly didn’t know it at the time, I probably could have guessed that 2017 would be my

finest season. Now properly settled into my surroundings at Quick Step, I lacked a big win but the consistency I maintained over the season perhaps went unnoticed. I finished the Tour de France after 58 race days with 27 top-10 results. My Tour general classification finish of sixth was my worst overall result in 2017 up to that point. A brace of seconds at Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a third on GC at Paris Nice were other highlights. It was a true example of getting the ball rolling, starting well and just carrying that momentum. Post TdF after time off the bike to recover from the fractured vertebra I suffered on stage 9 of that race, the results dried up as the tank was understandably empty. But I look back on that season incredibly fondly. It was a year where everything clicked and I took advantage of it.