Tyler Farrar, Paris-Nice stage 1 What a week! The last few days have been a bit rough and I have to admit I am glad to have them behind me. This was my second Paris-Nice, and after last year’s race, which was on an “easier” course, I knew what I was in for before the race started. Nevertheless, I was very motivated coming into the week. This was an important event for the team and I really wanted to give them a good performance in the Prologue.

Unfortunately, we all know how that turned out! Crashing is never fun, and doing it when you are on course for what may possibly be the biggest result of your career doesn’t really make it any better. But at the end of the day that’s bike racing. Sometimes things go your way, and sometimes they don’t.

Luckily I was still able to continue on in the race. Though I wasn’t feeling good enough to really get any results myself, I hope that I was able to make a worthwhile contribution to the team’s effort. In the end, the race didn’t play out quite as we had planned.

But we still did have a certain amount of success. Trent wore the best young rider’s jersey for a day and we had two riders in the top 10 for the first half of the race until crashes and sickness took their toll.

Now I am back home in Belgium giving my body a chance to rest up and recover. Between the crashes and the mountains, I feel like I’ve been put through the ringer!

Next up for me is Milano-Sanremo and the rest of the Classics that I love. Hopefully, the work I put in last week will help bring my condition up to the next level so Slipstream and I will come out swinging in the upcoming races!

-Tyler