JM - Congrats on the 2 in the GC, Can you tell us a little bit about how your weekend went at San Dimas?

ST - Thanks Mate, Well, I hit the TT without too many expectations. Obviously I’ve ridden the road several times being close to home, but never at race pace. I had good friend and Tassie training partner, Jai Crawford from Team Fly V Australia staying with us leading up to the event. He was giving me the statistics of the time and average speed Ben Day did for the TT last year. Not sure that was a good thing as we were both questioning our ability of being able to average 17 miles/h or 28km/h up the climb. I hit the TT with one goal, not to embarrass myself and get a half respectable time. I held 28/29km/h for the 3km¡¦s, then fell into a bit of a hole and was back to 25/26km/h, but managed to get going again on the last 2 km’s. Guess racing on the MTB where it is shorter climbs and changes in speed is a little different to doing a consistent 13 minute effort. I was happy with 13 minutes, knowing that was around the mark of the top guys last year. I ended up being third fastest, 8 seconds off Ben Day and good friend Jai can in 7th.

Day two came and I knew the Aussie boys on Fly V Australia were going to control the race, so it was going to be a pretty routine day for me. Until coming into the first intermediate spring where Fly V just brought back a break, I think it had Karl Menzies in it, who would have been a GC threat if he stayed away and took all the time bonuses. Just as they caught the break, Team Jamis were lined up with Luis Amaran (4th on GC); I had to make sure I got over those guys to preserve my 3rd on GC, in the process I picked up a 6 seconds time bonus to move into 2nd on GC. From there Fly V let a non-threatening break sit at about 45 seconds.

JM - We saw you in new colors this weekend can you tell us how that came about?

ST – I’ve been missing racing on the road and had a desire to mix it up. My best mountain

bike results have always been when I’ve been racing the road and felt the last couple of years I didn’t really have the HP on the MTB. I needed to find a way to get that back, it actually became a very easy process. I did Tour Redland back in 2005 with Cal Giant/Specialized and won the KOM Jersey and have know the Team Manger, Anthony since then. With the Team being on Specialized, Sram etc it seemed to make a lot of sense, with an easy crossover of sponsors all it took was one phone call to Anthony- Thanks Mate!

JM - A lot of people weren’t expecting you to make such an impression on the pro field, have you raced much road in the past?

ST – Really, haven’t you heard about the guy wearing the rainbow jersey, apparently he use to be a Mountain biker and also an Australian! No seriously, there was a time that I was more a roadie than a mountain biker, it’s actually how I got good at mountain biking. It wasn’t until I got thrown on a road bike, and got the roadie fitness that I became good on the MTB. I haven’t done a serious road race since 2007, but racing is just like learning to ride a bike- once you know how to do it, it’s easy. This weekend actually brought back memories with so many Australians in the peloton and what can I say, it was a bit of an Aussie domination: 1st, 2nd, 5th on GC and 3 out of 3 Stage wins by Australians.

JM - What races are you planning on doing with the Giants?

ST – Nothing until after Sea Otter and I haven’t really looked past that date yet. Perhaps Tour of Gila is next?? it will be good altitude preparation for the US Cup in Colorado. A few others that were thrown around are: Joe Martin, Mt Hood, Cascades, Utah, I’ll work it out as time comes.

JM – Do your mountain bike skills transfer over to the road?

ST – Well we had to bunny hop a hole in the circuit race, does that count? Perhaps, I’m used to cornering sideways on the mtb, riding on a track 3 inches wide, or stopping on a dime, so the only the thing I’m worried about in a road race is having to bunny hop a guy who may drop themselves in front of me!

JM - Do you do the majority of your riding on the road, and was it difficult to transition to road racing when just one week ago you were out a Bonelli Park racing mountain bikes?

ST – Yes, most of my training is on the road. I found it to be an easy transition, just like I said, It’ s like learning to ride a bike. This Tour was pretty easy, Fly V had the strongest Team and just rode tempo to defend the yellow jersey. Making it a pretty routine couple of days on the bike for me.

JM – Once again, great work and we look forward to seeing you out at Fontana this weekend for the Pro XCT, good luck.

ST – Thanks mate, same to you