Dan Martin Route du Sud ITT Dan Martin warming up for his mountain time trial ride with DS Jonathan Vaughters looking on.

Today really blew me away. Not the race. Not the result. But the total support of the whole team. It was awesome! Though some would translate such support as pressure, I try to put it to my advantage by getting all the energy out of it I possible can.

I was set up with an ace time trial position with clip on bars. I even had a make-shift ice vest that left me shivering on the start line. So basically all I had to do was ride hard. I could definitely feel the 5000 kjs I left on the road yesterday, but that’s stage racing. I just rode as hard as my legs would go which lasted until about 300 meters to go. Then the head takes over to just finish with nothing. Really, the time flew by. I can’t really remember anything.

I was just staring at a mixture of my Garmin, my top tube and the white line in the middle of the road.

I was pretty shocked at the winner’s time. That’s damn fast for someone who 1) blew up yesterday, and 2) is not renowned as a climber. But this is a stage race and hopefully we can keep the consistency going tomorrow. It’s a real roller coaster of a day but I got a strong team along for the ride. We’re happy with where I am because we don’t have to set tempo all day and we are in perfect position to strike.

Hopefully nobody will be watching this neo pro. Just gotta stick with that old French dude.