Usually I’m not nervous before a race, not sure why but I’ve always believed that if you’ve

done the preparation the result will take care of itself, so there is no need to be nervous. This

week I was nervous as hell, I was worried after missing 2 of the last 3 weeks of training

with sickness that I was going to get spat off the back, and not make the time cut. Luckily for me

the first stage didn’t get hard until the last hour. I made it to the final climb in the peloton

only I had terrible positioning and found myself in the second split. A sigh of relief that I was

going to make the time cut, I just tempo’ed the last 5km climb. Our young gun on the Team, Andrew had a great climb, finishing in 5th and claiming the young riders jersey.

Day 2 - War Zone! One of the most interesting days I’ve ever had in a race. With an uphill start,

and strong winds the field was split up very quickly, out of the 190 riders there was a select group of 40 left after the first 30 minutes (though it did regroup in the valley). I managed to stay in the front group. With the amount of time I spent in the gutter/dirt, jumping holes/grass clumps and slaloming through riders who were spat out the back I was wondering if I would be better off on the MTB. Not to mention the number of guys I saw hit the deck. I even found myself off the back a couple of times with the wind, got to love the convoy of cars, just enough shelter and rest to get back onto the peloton, thought while back there I saw something unbelievable, the lead commissars car hitting the brakes and taking out two guys that were behind the car, I quickly learned it was perhaps safer in gutter than anywhere near the officials. I made it through the stage safely, and in one piece and Andrew kept the white jersey.

Day 3 - TT. First time on a TT bike, I was looking forward to it until in warm up I almost got

blown across the lane and into a bus. So it was off with the disc, and on with shallower wheels. I started the time trial ok, until I got to the first downhill and with the help of a gust of wind I was fighting to keep the bike upright. Right there I called it a day, and just tempo’ed the rest of the TT. Andrew kept White jersey.

Day 4 - Crit. I actually enjoy crits, they are about the closest thing to the intensity of a MTB,

and I even got a little excited seeing an uphill in it. Though I wasn’t close enough to the front

to think about trying anything. I managed to stay out of trouble and with a bunch finish Andrew is still looking good in white.

Day 5 - The Monster. With such a long day I wasn’t expecting it to be on from the start. Though it was probably made more difficult from the amount of blue smoke I saw coming off tires and the gaps opening up from people dropping themselves. Without mentioning any names, perhaps the quote of the week was “how do guys get a pro license when they haven’t learnt how NOT to take themselves or their team mates out!” The peloton splintered on the first major climb and I wasn’t having a good day, especially when it started snowing on us. Once the rain started I didn’t want to risk getting sick again, and called it a day. It was actually good to watch the front of the race from the team car. One by one guys were dropping off as Lance rode tempo for Levi, Andrew was one of the few that managed to hang onto the group and finished the tour with white jersey. Now on routine to the Joe Martin stage race, hopefully with some oxygen content in the air I might be in a better shape this week.

Sid Taberlay