CYCLING SEASON REVIEW - 2017

The year is drawing to a close so I thought it’s a good time to give you a quick summarry of how my season went. It wasn’t my best or my favourite, but I still loved it and leant a lot.

My season started at the Volta a La Comunitat Valenciana. A perfect Spanish race to get the racing legs going. To garrantee a bloody taste in our mouths on day one, the first stage was a (bloody) 40km TTT! It was a great leg opener for the next stage where I found myself in a three man break. I took most of the KOM points and held onto the jersey till stage 4. All in all, great race, good hotels and some flowers for my wife.

Next up was Volta Algarve, another stage race in Portugal. It was another perfect race to bank some hours in the saddle and gain invaluable experience. Working for the likes of Mark and Eddie still blows my mind. These are the guys I idolized as a kid. We didn’t get a win, but came out faster and ready for Abu Dhabi which started only a couple of days later.

Straight after Algarve finished I flew to Abu Dhabi. Such a cool country, never been there before. We stayed at the Yas Marina Circuit overlooking the track. Super nice hotel and food. I roomed with Igor.

Unlike Algarve, we got a lot out of this race. Mark won the first stage and podiumed on all of the other sprint stages. This is probably still the most fun I’ve ever had on a bike. Again, learning.

Next up was Strade Bianchi. Another race I’ve always wanted to do and want to keep on doing. It’s a race where everything needs to go perfect or it’s game over. I punctured at a critical moment as the group was busy splitting. I had to ride the rim a couple of hundred metres until I could finally change and get going again. It was too late though, the race was far up the road and there was no coming back. DNF.

After Strade came Tirreno-Adriatico. A World Tour stage race. Hard, long stages. Most of them finishing with sketchy final circuits. We were happy with our top 10 TTT result and came close to stage wins. This was my last race of my ‘first block’ of the season and it was time for a quick break.

I had about 4 weeks till my next races, Amstel Gold Race and Fleche Wallonne. I spent all of that time at home training my butt off.

I’ve raced Amstel before, in 2015, and enjoyed my time in the break of the day. This year, I wanted to repeat that. Amstel is probably one of the hardest races to get into the break as most of the riders do too. All day you are racing around in circles on single-car width roads. This makes for a stressful and dangerous day at the office. I was super chuffed to find myself once again up the road in a 12 man break. Once we were caught I tried to keep Nathan up there as long as possible. He went on to finish 4th. It was a 464TSS kind of day…

Next up was the Giro d’Italia! The 100th edition, and my second. I had and have great memories of 2016 where I came close to winning a stage, so I had high expectations for 2017. I was a bit disappointed as I wasn’t at my highest level, but still managed to work every single stage to deliver the boys where they needed to be. Multiple top 10’s. Multiple days in the KOM jersey. Stage win. As a group we had a blast on the bike. Everyone willing to help one another achieving our goal.

After another break and the press of a reset button it was time for Tour of Austria. Another race with fond memories where I won a stage in 2015. This year, Ben took the honours and bagged an epic stage win for us. We also won the team comp.

London Classic. Super tough race actually. I was in the front group of 60 guys positioning Ryan and Scott. The sprint didn’t go to plan. I, however, was happy with how my legs felt after spending 10 days training up in Andorra prior.

Binck Bank Tour, aka Eneco Tour. Lets just skip and forget about that one… forever.

Now the season was nearing the end with only a couple of races left. GP Plouay was tuff. For some reason I can’t remember much of it, but I think we raced aggressively towards the end and Eddie finished 7th.

Giro della Toscana was another fun one. I enjoy racing in Italy. Generally, the hotel is good and they know how to cook pasta, unlike the French. Steve won the first stage.

Münsterland was filthy. Stupid laps at the start racing on farm roads. Pouring rain and wind. All day on and off. The race finishes with 3x4km laps. The guys lost count and misjudged when the final lap actually was. I had a pretty good race managing to keep them out of the trouble and wind most of the day.

Finally, as always, Paris Tours. We came with a strong team and as race favourites. We also raced that way and took control of the race at km 180. Again, pouring rain and wind on twisty roads. I always prefer to ride the front in these conditions than fight for position at the back. Unfortunately, everyone thinks this way, so riding the front isn’t that easy. A small group got away on the final kickers and sprinted for the win.

All in all, not a disaster of a season. I ended the season racing strong, healthy and in one piece. I learnt a lot and actually already look forward to pinning my first number.

2018 is going to be great.

Photo credits: Scott Mitchell/Stiehl Photography