Lund longs for Grand Tours
Saxo Bank | February 2, 2012
Anders Lund is thankful to be back in Saxo Bank and is eyeing a return to Grand Tour racing. After a year at team Leopard and missing out on the big, three-week events, Saxo Bank's Bjarne Riis has Lund down for the Giro d'Italia.
"I feel like I'm coming home," Lund said after a year's hiatus. "The Giro is on my mind, I'm scheduled to race it and maybe I'd even have a chance to win a stage there."
The 26-year-old, 27 on Valentines's Day, raced the three-week Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España stage races in 2010. At the end of the year, he followed brothers Fränk and Andy Schleck to team Leopard, this year known as RadioShack-Nissan.
The two brothers fought with Cadel Evans to win the Tour, but Lund only could watch on television. In fact, for the first time since 2007, his first year in Riis' CSC/Saxo Bank team, he failed to race a Grand Tour.
"Last year was not really a good year for me, so that is why I did not make the Grand Tour teams. That's just the way it is when you are not performing," Lund explained.
"It's hard to tell why, but maybe it's because I started the season late because I had a long 2010 season. Maybe because I was always a step behind. I'm just ready to put it behind me and have a good season."
Leopard merged with RadioShack at the end of the season and left little space for Lund. Riis immediately signed his fellow Dane.
"It's great to be back [with Saxo Bank]; it's a really nice feeling. I'm very familiar with the whole team, the way they do things here."
Lund lives and trains around in Lucca, Italy, though he is from Copenhagen. He began his season at the Tour of Down Under helping the team's sprinters. He is back to training now despite the European cold-snap and looking ahead to the Giro d'Italia.
The Giro, May 5 to 27, starts for the first time in Denmark. The race covers three stages near Riis' home in Herning before returning to Italy, starting in Verona. The race wraps its way down the boot-shaped country and back north for the mountains – Lund hopes to find his chance.
"I hope to return to the level I had in 2010. I was having a fun time racing then, that's what it was all about. I want to return to that condition, take chances for myself and help the team," he said.
"It's nice to stand at the start line, nervous not because you are afraid of being dropped, but because you're ready to win. That's the feeling I want back.
"I'm always looking out [for the win], but when you have condition you are always sharp and ready."