Dan Martin, Trophee des Grimpeurs Good weather, good form and cool team mates all add up to an awesome week of racing at the Volta a Catalunya. It felt good to actually be ‘racing’ in the final of such a big race. It was a really cool feeling to have the team looking after me with Trent and Tommy D using their experience to help me be in the right place in the peloton. They seemed to enjoy helping me, and this gave me loads of motivation as I have heaps of respect for them. I’m sure I will have plenty of opportunities to repay them in the future.

Epic day of racing
Even the last stage yesterday, was enjoyable. I don’t think I have ever ridden in such torrential rain. And in a strange way, I loved it. It hurt. A lot. But it was so great to be involved in such an epic day of bike racing. I was in the first break, which kind of screwed my legs up for the rest of the day. We rode flat out and I thought we would go to the finish, but alas, Liquigas and Saunier Duval chased hard behind. Tommy D, Trent and Christophe helped me a lot in the last 20 km because I had a mixture of effort and dirt in my eyes so I couldn’t see are straight. It was very fast with the peloton disintegrating, so we might have moved up a bit on GC. To be honest, I am a bit bummed to not be able to repay my team mates with a really good overall position.

Both unlucky and lucky
I keep replaying that crash on the 2nd stage in my mind, trying to see a way I could have avoided it. It wasn’t really any one’s fault. The whole group was hot into a sharp corner, and since I was on the outside, I got pushed in to a storm drain. A tiny error of judgement that cost me a top 15 or maybe even top 10 on GC. In other ways though, I was super lucky. First, my front 202 withstood the impact that sent me over the bars and second, I managed to land in a big pile of sand, resulting in zero injury. Unlike Jason who stacked it up big time the same day. Get well soon mate!

Every day was extremely hard and not just the cruisy bunch sprint that the results suggest. I think every day was around 2000 m altitude gain, and with what seemed a constant headwind all week, to have average speeds of 42 kph shows we weren’t hanging around. Being involved in the bunch kicks was a new experience for me. The adrenaline definitely kicks in during the final 10 km and it felt good being right up front. I’m never going to be a field sprinter, but it’s so important to be near the front if you want to be a good GC rider to avoid time splits in the group.

Big Lesson: Riding for GC is stressful
Well there you go. I’m pretty damn fried now but that kind of wraps up my Catalunya week. One major lesson I have learned this week: riding for GC is extremely stressful. A single lapse of concentration can cost a whole week’s worth of hard work from you and your team. Just makes me have even more admiration for guys like Christian.

Now back to training! I’m definitely going to enjoy watching the boys continue to fight hard in Italy.