Hi there,

This is being posted on behalf of Tim, as he is having quite alot of trouble getting online at the moment. Particularly made difficult by several long transfers between stages over the last few days, not mention the 650km of racing so far!!

He told me tonight that he’s feeling really good on the bike, alot more relaxed than last year, and particularly doing his utmost to steer clear of trouble on the road; dodging as many mad italian fans ‘tifosi’ and crashes as possible… not always that easy, but if your landing is cushioned by a very generous Lampre rider like today, hitting the deck on slippery italian roads is made that little more bearable.

Attached are a few photos of Stages 2 and 3 by pro cycling photographer Graham Watson (Tim approached him while at the Tour Downunder earlier in the year about using his shots in the blog; he very generously agreed to let Tim use his wonderful photos)

Tim rides the front at the start of stage 2 in pic2 and in stage3 in pic6 + the looming Mt Etna, Europe’s largest volcano (pic7) which they circumnavigated to finish stage3 in Sicily on Monday (Thanks alot for the great pics Graham!!)

Thanks for reading and keep an eye out for more GIRO updates coming soon

Brother Kyle

An we underway.  This afternoon at 16.36 I rolled down the start ramp with my team at my side into a boulevard jam packed with fans spilling onto the road in front of us.  TV cameras everywhere, helicopters over head, music pumping, as goose bumps appear on my arms I am thinking to myself just relax and ride straight and you’ll be fine.

We didn’t finish at the right end of the field today, an were disappointed by the result but there is a long way to go and you have to think about how to do it better next time.  With our first real practice together in TTT formation yesterday we never expected a miracle and having a team full of mostly climbers lining up against the best teams in the world at this discipline is never going to be easy. 

 Though for me tonight I am feeling pretty happy with my form.  The legs felt good and pulled some good long turns on the front to test where I was at.  It has been I while since I felt good legs to be honest, so it can be a bad time to start feeling them with what I have ahead of me. 

 Tomorrow the race really starts though and the hilly parcour is going to make for a difficult day first up.  There is rain on the forecast, so I’ll sleeping with my fingers crossed they are wrong as it will be chaotic if so.

 So far the word around is we are in for a very difficult three weeks, very likely to be the hardest of all the Grand Tours this year with a parcour consisting of gigantic mountain stages and a peloton stacked with the absolute best, including last years Tour de France winner Alberto Contador.  So be prepared to see some exciting racing and maybe some big time gaps too….

Signing out from Palermo

Tim

Dust, motor bikes, car horns, rubbish bags, mountainous rolling country, all sites and sounds of Palermo, Sicily. The host city of the start of this years Giro d’Italia.

Arriving at Palermo airport on Wednesday brought back all the same feelings of nerves, excitement, anticipation, and the unknown that I felt last year when I arrive at the start of my first Grand Tour. There is a special feeling in air that is hard to explain at the depart of such an enormous event, where you do battle for an entire three weeks with 200 of the world best cyclists. There will be friendships and companions made as you fight for survival in the unforgiving Dolomite’s, and team mates you will have to be prepared to defend and support when things aren’t going so well. They are all just parts of a Grand Tour.

Over the next three weeks I will do my best let you know the news from the peloton and how it feels to be part of it. Some days could well be breif as the fatigue sets in but will see how go.

From a fitness point of view I am feeling pretty good and hope the form will continue to improve. My leg injury from last years race is still plaguing me a bit, and I have had countless acupuncture needles, massages and stretching sessions to counter it but who knows how it will react to the racing ahead. Fingers x’d it won’t flare up but we will take it day by day.

Yesterday we had the team presentation in the centre of Palermo, crowed with passionate Italian fans waiting to see their heroes on stage. The noise as Paolo Bettini descended from his team bus was quite something, you realise this is a big deal here.

Ok I am off to recharge my batteries with a good nights sleep before kick off tomorrow. I hope enjoy the next few weeks reading as I venture into unknown territory of a three weeks bike.

Tim

Pics below, team out training, Palermo center, heading to presentation stage, my room mate Jussi with an excited Italian fan

The final two days definitely brought the toughest parcours of the race, even though the distances weren’t too long.  Along with the first real heat of the season it made the giant Swiss cols even more difficult.

 Stage five was shortened from 122km to 112km due a landslide on the 3rd category 1 climb of the day.  When I first heard this I thought it would be quite nice missing out another 5km of climbing, but in reality it just made time cut at the end of the day shorter, damm it.

 Anyway the stage was as hard if not harder than expected, as I found myself along with quite a few others off the back after only 3km, now this doesn’t help the head when you know there are still four mountain passes to go.  It ended up being a very long day though over a relatively short distance.  I rolled across the line almost half an hour behind the winner, completely exhausted with sweaty salt crystals all over my face as the heat of the day had really taken its toll and sensations of cramp weren’t far away.

The final day have one really difficult obstacle early on which came in the form of the Col de moss.  A 20km col after just 10km of racing and as we hit the climb the previous days racing hadn’t seem to dampen the legs of the climbers at all.  Though for me my day was to be cut quite short when one of my team mates and strong climber, Remi Di Gregorio broke a spoke in his back wheel I pulled to give him my wheel as the team car was already along way behind as the not quite so strong climbers were already well behind.  So Remi got on his way I waited for a wheel and then took off in chase of the last group on the road, but this would become a tougher task than I had imagined and I was a long way behind as the front of the race attacked the mountain at a frantic pace.  I ended up getting in the team car after only 28kph of racing though this had taken me a whole hour due to vicous gradient of the climb.

 So it wasn’t the best end to the tour for me but with what I have ahead of me in the next month with the Giro, its not really a big loss.  By 9pm last night I was back home in Albi to grab a quick pizza with Pete and Sally before my bed was calling my name for a good night shut eye.  With just two days at home before leaving first thing on Wednesday morning for Sicily I am in full recovery mode to try prepare the body for the next month of intensity, suffering, battling, sweating, and hopefully at the same time enjoying racing around Italy.

Ok I’m off for an easy hour ride before hitting the couch for the afternoon.

 Back soon, cheers

 Tim

Today I am writing from Seil, a small city perched in a valley of the Swiss Alps which tower above it on either side. Four days into the Tour de Roamandie and the real GC contenders are starting to appear at the front of the race after today’s 18km time trial. With a different format to last year it looks like the race will decided tomorrow on a short but super difficult mountain stage.

I started the tour hoping to gain some good form for the Giro, and so far the mountainous Swiss roads have definitely been helping that goal. I have spent most of my time here so far protecting and helping where I can my teams two leaders for the race, Sandy Carsar and Jussi Veikkanen. Who are both riding really well and sitting in the top 20 after the TT today. Though tomorrow with surely bring the biggest test of the race.

Day one here really took its toll on me, with an average of 5degress, rain for 4 1/2 of the 5hrs and numerous short steep cols my body really had to find some reserves just to finish the day. Wrapped in a rain coat all day long your body has to work a lot harder just keep turning. Today I really felt those heavy legs in the time trial, though a 5km climb with sections of 17% didn’t help either. So it was more of a procession for me today than a race, but a good exercise at the same time.

To another story that is forever plauging cycling these days, doping. I was thinking to myself a couple of days ago that we are really starting to see a change here in professional cycling. They are all sorts of changes though, as we seem to be coming out of the gloomy days of the past few years, the peloton of today is sure paying the price in a way for what some have done to the sport in the past.

What I mean by this is things like the ADAMS Whereabouts program which the pro peloton is obliged to fill in 365days of the year so they can located and tested wherever they may be. I am all for it, if it is what it takes clear out the cheaters, but many of us do the slight imprisonment it gives us in our daily lives.

After finishing my prologue on Tuesday night at 6.50pm, I rode back to the hotel, had a massage, ate dinner and then put my feet up to rest at around 10pm. Though not feeling like sleeping after such a late race didn’t turn out the light until 12pm. Not to worry though as Wednesdays stage wouldn’t start until 1pm, so a sleep in was possible. Well so I thought. Not today, as a knock on my door at 7am by my director saying the drug testers were down stairs and it was our turn. Once again this can only be a good thing, but in a way I did feel like I was paying for what others had done before me.

Today we did here some interesting new though, as the UCI announced they have done over 2000 drug test on the professional peloton already this year, and only have 5 under question. As a percentage this has to be a good sign, and real proof they are fighting this problem head on.

Ok well its time for me to go and get some well needed rest and hopefully I nice wee sleep in as we have another 1pm kick off from just outside our hotel tomorrow.

Below are a few pics, the scenic Swiss country side, heading off for a little TT reconnaissance, and me warming up for today’s TT.

Back soon

Tim

Just checking in before things start to heat up on the racing scene again.  My next adventure will be taking me in and around Switzerland on the Tour of Romandie.  A race I have done once before which helps calm the nerves a little but I’m sure it will still throw up its fair share of surprises.

 My last week of training in preparation for Romandie and also the Giro has gone fairly well, with I little stint into the Pyrenees to remind my muscles of how it feels to go up hill again.

I spent a couples days based out of Limoux, and got stuck into the biggest hills I could find near by.  As you will see below they are quite high, this leaving little oxygen for a flat lander kiwi to suck up.  Though I did survive and after passing the Col du Pailheres that was sign posted as “ferme” or closed in English, I though why not Pradel as well.  I was in for real surprise once I reached the top, just after I had pulled on my vest an arm-warmers for the descent I was to find 3km of knee deep snow!  Just my lucky day.  So two options start running down the hill bike in hand, or turn back and re mont Pailheres?  Easy choice, Ill take the snow thanks.  So 20-30mins later I got back on my bike good to go but with just slightly frozen feet.  So down the valley I went, though only to be met by a block headwind for the last 40km, but not to worry as my brother, sister and Sally were on hand for quick motor pace back home in the mighty Renualt.  Cheers bro, solid effort for first motor pacing attempt.  I rolled in the door after 6.40hrs in the saddle a tired man man but hey life’s all about adventures isn’t it.

So hopefully the last couple of days recover have set the legs right and we are into things on Tuesday.  Will let you know how it all goes.

 Tim

The next couple of months are going to be a couple of full on ones for me so I thought I better let you know where I’ll be.

First of all tomorrow I’m heading down to Limoux for a couple days training in the hills to prepare the legs for the upcoming races.  Cyclist often talk about finding there rythm in the mountains.  For me its easier said than done but we’ll see how we go.

 Then starting next week my program looks like this:

29-4 Tour of Romandie (Swi)

10-1 Giro d’Italia (Ita)

11 Dutch Food Valley Classic  (Ned)                                    

19-22 Route du Sud (Fra)

By the end of all this I think I will be one tired lad, but I do feel better prepared this time round for these races so hopefully I will cross the finish line in Milan after a three week epic race.

 Will let you know how it all goes.

 Tim

Its 5pm and I’ve just risen from a well needed arvo kip.  Yes I know what you’re thinking, sounds tough!  And well yeh it can’t be a bad lifestyle when you can curl up in your bed for 30min shut eye on the Tuesday arvo.  

This morning Pete an I rolled out for 2 and half hours on our TT bikes for a bit of a change, but as usual spent the most of the ride talking about how we are going to make our millions without ever having to work a nine to five.  Then it was home for some streching a little core work and magic bowl of hot soup and toast for lunch to warm up a little.

After waking up this morning and opening the shutters to see once again dark skies with rain on the horizon my motivation for another days wet training was starting to waver.  Though today we got lucky, the rain had past before us so we were just left with wet roads to deal with today.

As you will have noticed I havn’t appeared on here very often lately, not that I havn’t thought about keeping you all updated, I’ve thought about it a lot to be honest.  It just takes a certain frame of mind for me to get on here and write about how day to day life in the pro peloton has been treating me.

So yesterday I spent a few hours browsing a few other riders sites to gather some insperation myself.  While I sat there reading I found myself intruiged reading other riders stories and more than inspired to write some of my own. 

It has been 10days since my last race, Paris Roubaix, and when I returned home to Albi for a much needed couple days off the bike it was time to set a few new goals for the up coming months of racing.  After spending two weeks in Belgium completing a full classics program with 3days of De Panne, Tour of Flanders, Ghent Whevelgem and Paris Roubaix I had some mixed emotions on my performances, form and goals for the future.  I was dissapointed not to finish either of the big ones Flanders, and Roubaix but tried to look on the positive side that with limited preparation it was always going to be tough and the experience gained will be with me forever. 

Tour of Flanders was a highlight though.  What a race.  An estimated 1.3millions spectators following the race you could just feel the intensity and the amazing buzz around a race that means so much to Belgian and World cycling.  My role for the day was to stay by our leader Phil Gilbert’s side from the start to however long my engine would last.  So I was to keep him out of the wind and safe from crashes if thats possible on the small Belgian roads.  When we hit the cobbled sectors I would drop back behind him and be ready to lend a wheel or a hand if he was to puncture or crash.  I was kept fairly busy early on as Belgium being Belgium dished up four season in one day, meaning I had to fairy rain jackets and bottles back an forth to the car quite often.  After around 150km of the 265km journey the race really started to heat up.  My tank was nearly empty at the 190km mark as we roared along a big road before turning into one of the famous cobbles bergs the ’Oude Kwaremont’ so I did my best to position Phil before I was swamped by frantic peloton and left straggling over the top of the climb with a small group off the back.  In a race like Flanders, even if you still have power left you don’t come back from here.  The onslaut of consecutive cobble walls makes it impossible as the front of the peloton isn’t waiting for anyone.  So as I rolled into the 2nd feed station for the day at 210km I was heading straight to for the shelter of my team car, where I attempted to try and get feeling back in my hands after the rain, hail, and snow we had passed through.

Phil finished 15th at the end of the day, while sprinting for 4th he told me he stood up to sprint but had no choice but to just sit back down and follow as his legs gave way and cramped, and fair enough after 6 and a half hours of racing.  Phil was greatful for the work I had done, but hopefully next time round I will have to stamina to be there at the finish too.

 Well folks I’m sure thats enough for one sitting. 

 Back at it again soon.

 Tim

Hi all

Thought it sure was about time I dropped you all a line, and let you know I am still alive and kicking.  I have been constantly bouncing around Europe like ping pong ball taking in the ups and downs as I go. 

 I won’t go into too much detail this time but I will try make a little time line off photos of my travels.  Since arriving I have raced in Spain, Italy, and Belgium while just passing home in Albi very breifly each time to rearrange the suitcase and get back on the road for another journey.  I spent three weeks crook after getting here and with no time to rest after it really took its toll on me.  I racked up some good kms in the renault and on the bike getting too and at training camp but then stuggled to freshen up for the racing.  So far there has been no results to speak of but it has been great to be part of some team victories.  I met up with the NZ track team in mid March for the Track Worlds prep but it didn’t quite go as planned as I struggled to get up to speed on the track after a heavy road racing schedule left me pretty fatigued.  So it was home for a little recovery and catch up with the flaties Pete and Sally before heading back to Belgium for some serious classics action.

 So here I am after race 3days of De Panne and Tour of Flanders last week, tomorrow I have Gent Wevelgem and Sunday Paris Roubaix.  Flanders was a real experience, though I didn’t finish I did what I could for team and left feeling pretty happy with my own form ready for the rest of the week.

Ok well its time for me to go and put the feet up and get some shut for tomorrows race.   Thanks to all those who have a left comments of late it is much appreciated, I promise to be back with more news from this side of the world soon.

 Cheers Tim

 Training in Mallorca. Team mate Cyril frozen after a days racing in dirty old Belg. A little afternoon outing with the track team.  The sun out at the track in Hyeres. Afew days later under snow in Manchester.  Pete and Sally pulled up for a coffee in Albi.  A quick coffee stop in Holland while training before the Tour of Flanders (no cakes for us though)

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Well it sure was a shock to the system arriving back in Europe after the great weather we have had at home this summer.  On Sunday I was racing round the streets of Adelaide in 40 degree heat and by Tuesday I was out training in Paris where it wasn’t any more than about 3 degrees windy and drizzling. 

Going from one extreme to another and with a slight lack of sleep due to travel I could feel straight away I was heading down hill, and sure enough a couple days later a cold sets in.  So it’s onto the vit c and garlic to try and brush it of before the next race. 

Thursday morning we had team presentation before I was on the plane back to Albi to make home again for the year at 16 rue d’empeyralots.  The presentation is the like the official start to the teams year and with a huge room mainly full of journalists it got underway with Christophe Blanchard-Dignac the President-Directeur Général of la Française des Jeux explaining the history of the team, its successes in 2007 and what it aims to achieve in 2008.  He also mentioned that La Francaise de Jeux has the youngest average age in the Pro Tour, something Director Sportif Marc Madiot is very proud of.   Madiot was introduced, as us the riders waited back stage in casual style chatting and pretending to read newspapers.  I was quite cool really, a formal introduction but in a relaxed style.    A day earlier Madiot had asked if you would do the haka at the end of the presentation of all the riders, I was quite reserved about doing in the tight white lycra but when he put me on the spot after introducing the riders I didn’t have much choice.  So I explained to the room this haka is to set the challenge to the other teams of the professional peloton in 2008, and so it was I ripped into a haka to finish proceedings and entertain the audience.   I will post some photos asap though you may have already seen them. Back soon   Tim