Limiting losses and keeping the jersey in the family

What a strange day. Today’s stage 3 start here in Portugal was held under sunny skies, so we wore as little clothing as possible. There were a few dark clouds, but it rained for just five minutes. The rain happened to coincide with a downhill cobble section where Christian got taken out, luckily without consequence. But what a way to start your first race with us!

I was feeling damn good, floating around the group, then having loads of fun pushing guys off Tyler’s wheel on the run into the climb. He and CJ did a great job. Anyway, we hit the climb and I was slightly tired. It hurt. A lot. No idea why but I was swinging on the back for the first climb and the first 10 km of the last climb.

Then I stabilized and didn’t get any worse while everyone else did. I kept passing then dropping people. Pat was looking really good, putting in a dig and getting 45 seconds off the front. But it was a horrible climb for a solo rider, loads of wind and he got chased back. And it was freakin’ freezing at the top. Like 2 degrees Celsius or something! This made sitting around for TV interviews very pleasant as you can imagine.

I’m happy. Today was all about limiting my losses and to keep the jersey in the family. I didn’t let on at the start of the week, but I haven’t been well since Denmark. One of our medical staff, Mr. Rabin has worked his magic, and without him I don’t think I’d have finished. I really was in a bad way at the start of the week - not digesting my food, no appetite and even less energy. So that kind of explains the unpredictable form. I think I’m through the worst and am getting better every day.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a day for Tyler so I can sit in and recharge the batteries.