CYCLING SEASON REVIEW - 2018

The 2018 season finished over a month ago and preparation for the next has already begun. Lets look back at some of my favourite moments during this season. I had plenty. I raced and traveled a lot, peaking at 91 race days for the season. My personal highest to date.

As every year, we had our first big training camp early January in Calpe, Spain. This, after 6 years of being a professional, is still one of my highlights. Arriving at the hotel to your room filled with suitcases of new kit and accessories. Reminds me of when I was a child opening presents on Christmas.

It’s also a great opportunity to bank some solid miles and do some final tweaks on your position as from here on, time flies. Next thing you know it you’re on the plane for the first race.

Here I was, suitcase packed and on my way to Volta Valenciana. Closely followed by Algarve. I did the same programme during 2017 and it’s an opening I enjoy. Racing Valenciana on ‘home soil’. Usually the weather plays along and it’s a good one to get the racing legs going.

Algarve is just an amazing race. One hotel for the duration of the whole tour makes logistic easy for the riders and staff. Good food, beautiful scenery (although its time to resurface some roads) and hard racing. The last day stands out especially as one of my best rides this season. We were off the front in a big group after a hard start. Serge went on to finish 3rd on the stage. I remember having great legs and enjoyed working hard to ensure we stayed away.

Next was Paris Nice. To be honest, it sucked. I was fighting illness the whole race and it was f/&cking cold all week. Trying to think of a highlight, but struggling to find one. I DNF’d on stage 7. I was coughing up some monsters and knew I had limited time to my next race, Langkawi, which was half way around the world and less than a week away.

After less than 24hrs at home arriving back from Paris Nice I swopped my thermals for mesh and traveled to Malaysia. We were all very excited to arrive and had a blast all week. We animated every stage, trying to force positive race situations. During the longest stage, stage 7, Jaco and I were in every group that went of the front. FYI, racing in Asia/Malaysia is chaos. There’s no control or order. Everyone attacks and you just hope for the right combination. It’s very difficult to control and even more with 6 rider teams. After racing flat-out all day I attacked 1,8 km to go. They sprinted past me less than 25 m to go. I was devastated to say the least.

The next weekend after finishing Langkawi and traveling halfway around the world back home again I lined up for De Ronde. Signing on for De Ronde is still one of the best feelings. Riding down the cobbled street lined by people for team presentation is an amazing feeling. The race itself is madness. A total opposite of what I was racing the weekend before. I tried for the break and gave a helping hand where I could.

This season I raced Paris Roubaix for the first time. It’s a race I’ve watched on TV every year since knowing about it so to actually race it was a dream come true. I was proud to reach the velodrome and finish it.

During this period I raced De Ronde, Scheldeprijs, Roubaix, Brabant and finally Amstel. The first of the Ardennes. I was not in great condition after going from race to race to race so this turned out to be one of the most difficult periods I’ve had. I just had to get through Romandie, which followed shortly after this block, to finally have a 3 week gap to my next race where I could rest and prepare.

After a quick 3 week break at home I was ready for my next given task. Fjords- Dauphine- Slovenia. Another biggie.

Racing in Norway is always an amazing experience. Even more with Eddie on your team. I’ve been there 3 times and its beauty still amazes me. If you haven’t seen the Fjords in flesh, put it on your bucket list.

Dauphine was another first for me. A race I’ve always wanted to do. The closest to the Tour de France vibe you can get without riding the Tour. I think. I had a great week on the bike and thoroughly enjoyed it. A highlight for me was sleeping in the ski apartments on top of La Rosiere. I love these mountain top ski accommodations. That night Tom, our chef, prepared a pretty damn good Tiramisu, which got me through the final day. Thanks Tom!

Amanual and I road tripped in the team bus from Dauphine to Slovenia. We had two days to travel a little over 1000 km. I borrowed Jay’s Normatec boots which helped get rid of some of Dauphine’s pain while traveling. Santi was our bus driver. He’s amazing. Always playing music, cooks delicious food and he’ll do anything to make your trip comfortable.

The final road stage was again my best. I rode across to a big important break. Eventually, once the race split from behind and Amanual caught up, I could help him as far as I could. We raced great this stage.

This was another big block of racing. I had a little bit less than a month to rest up and super compensate for my next race, Austria.

One of my favourites, Tour of Austria. We had a great team here. As a team, riders and staff, everyone worked perfectly together.

During the month before I spent 2 weeks training up in Andorra. That always improves my condition and even though I don’t climb like it, I feel like a feather when I get back to racing. The hard work showed and I had some proper good rides. Had it not been for an untimely mechanical, Steve would’ve won stage 4 after the four of us TTT’d away from the chasing peloton.

All in all, one of my highlight races of the season. 10/10.

Up next- Burgos and La Vuelta. Scrolling through the pictures now I realise how many amazing moments this period had. Each of these races deserve a post on their own, which I’ve done, so go check them out here Vuelta, 1/2 & Vuelta 2/2.

Hours and hours went into being in shape for La Vuelta. I’m proud of how I raced and achieved great performances. We had the same core team as at Austria and Burgos, one which worked perfectly together. We achieved great success ( I can’t help but think of this clip every time I say ‘great success’ Borat ) with Ben bossing 2 stage wins. We also won the Best Team Stage Classification a couple of times.

Looking back and realising it was my last GT with Team Dimension Data makes these moments even more memorable and special.

I finished the season and my time with Team Dimension Data at Lombardia. Another Monument checked off my list. The week prior to Lombardia we raced Beghelli, The Vale and Piemonte. These are great one-day Italian Classics and have a racing style of their own.

I would like to thank the team, which I’ve been part of for the past 6 years, for the amazing time and opportunities. I met incredible people, created lifetime friendships and learned a hell of a lot.

See you all on the road somewhere sometime!