Tour Down Under
Team UniSA-Australia Supporters Club
Team UniSA-Australia Supporters Club
Date of Birth: 25 November 1976 (28-years-old)
Born: Adelaide
Weight: 67 - 70kg
Height: 1.82m
Occupation: Professional cyclist (since 1986)
Cycling competitively: I actually started BMX when I was about four-years-old and did that until I was about 14 or 15, which is when I got into cycling. I did track and some road cycling for a couple of years with the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI) and then completely turned to the road after I turned senior, when I was 18-years-old. I’ve been road cycling since and travelled overseas when I was second year senior. So I’ve been overseas for eight or nine years now.
Club: I started with Central Districts and moved to Norwood Cycling Club in 1998.
Professional team: Comnet Senges. The first year I went overseas I was with a small team in Italy, based as an amateur there. I did a couple of months in Italy and then went to a French team and did two months there before I came back to Australia with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) where we were based in Italy for two years. It was fantastic - I was with the AIS for the first two years it started the program in Italy. It was a small team over there. I rode division three for a couple of years, then division two and then division one. Professional teams I've been with include: Comnet Senges (2004), Credit Agricole (2003), Bankgiroloterij (2001-2002), Team Hohenfelder (2000), Team Leonardo Coast (1999).
Bike: Avanti. The company sets me up with the top of the line bike which is nice. I’m really looking forward to getting the new 2005 model. They say I’ll have a new one to ride for Down Under.
Sponsors: Avanti and JT Cycles.
Fastest speed clocked on a bike: 115km/hr. That was while I was training for the Junior World Championships in Ecuador, South America in 1994. The air is a lot thinner at high altitude so you can get more speed. We were training on a big descent and were getting a lot of runs out of cars. But once you get to around anywhere from 80km/hr to 110km/hr – it’s all the same. It’s still going to hurt if you fall off!
Longest distance on a bike: Last year I did the Milan San Remo, which is a World Cup race. It’s about 285km. I’ve also done another 280km race in Australia, the Melbourne to Yarrawonga. But 310km is the longest distance I’ve ridden on a bike. I did a little extra afterward the Melbourne to Yarrawonga so I could click over 300km’s. I just wanted to hit the 300 mark! We certainly don’t train that far. Most of the time anywhere between 150 - 200km is enough distance. Your body knows time not kilometres, so if five or six hours is the maximum that you do in a race then you only have to train for five or six hours.
Recent achievements:
Career highlights: A stage win in the 2002 Tour de Luxembourg is definitely one of my highlights, as well as winner of the King of the Mountains in the Tour of Germany the year before. Also, in 2001 (my first year in the big professional team) I finished sixth overall in the Tour de Luxembourg. This year I had some good results as well, with a couple of good placements – fourth in the general classment of the Niedersachsen tour in Germany and third in the Bochum Giro as well. For me they are real highlights.
Ambitions for 2005: Just to back up the year I had last year. I had my best year by a long, long way and I was consistent. The other years I was good for maybe four or five weeks in the season and then I was quiet for another couple of months, and then I'd come good again. Last year I was consistent from March until August and I want to capitalise on that and get the good results again and hopefully get into a big team.
Overall cycling ambitions: I’d love to do the Tour De France, it’s every cyclist’s dream. I’ve done the majority of the World Cup races before, being in Europe in the last few years. But I’ve never done a Grand Tour. There’s three Grand Tours and the Tour De France is one of them, it’s the grand daddy of them all. I’d love to do that. I’m 28-years-old now, so we’ll have to see what happens in the years to come.
Years with Team UniSA: 2005 will be my second year with Team UniSA. I raced with the team in 2003, but didn’t enter the Tour at all in 2004 because I wanted to build into the European season in a more relaxed manner.
Years in the Tour Down Under: 2005 will be my fourth ride in the Tour Down Under. The first year I did the tour I rode with one of the Australian teams. There were three Australian teams when it first started. I also did the tour once with Credit Agricole, in the last year Stuart O’Grady raced for them. The last two years I've ridden in the Tour Down Under I've been with Team UniSA.
Most gruelling part of the Tour? Checker Hill, it’s not very nice. It’s only short but it is still very tough. We’re also going up the freeway now, which is not an easy ride.
Best part of the Tour? The first stage is one of my favourites, because of the buzz that’s there. It’s when your brain clicks in with "OK, here we go, it’s the start of the season now." It is the first major big race and you’re back again with all the European teams. It’s just that amazing feeling that you have on that first day when you’re in the big bunch again and there’s big crowds – it’s incredible.
How do you prepare for the Tour? I do the same pre-season every year. I get back on the bike on the first of December and spend one week just getting into it with two to three hours a day. Then I start building up. Now, I’m up to doing five hour rides. I did one today and I’ll do another one tomorrow. I normally have two long days and then one recovery day, where you do a two hour ride. I keep doing that until it comes up to the races, where I work it out a little more … Go up in the hills, do a couple of sprints, rest ride.
What do you hope to achieve in the Tour? I’ll go in there with the attitude that I’ll ride for the team and the generale. But you never know what’s going to happen – a break might go on the first day and you might not be in it. If there is the right combination of riders there is a chance the bunch will just sit up and run away. I want to run the top 10 to 15 or go for a stage result. I think nearly every rider goes into that race with that attitude. They start off with a goal of running on the classment or getting a stage result. And if a group goes on one day and takes the big time and I’m not in it, then I don’t worry about the general classment and I aim for a stage result. Because often when you’re not in the classment it is generally easier to get a stage result.
Nickname: No nickname
Pets: A German Shepard
Someone you look up to: I’d probably have to say Spanish cyclist Miguel Indurain. He was really dominating when I was first getting into cycling. I really liked the style he rode and the attitude he had. I still look up to him. I’ve done a couple of races where he’s been a guest and I’ve looked and thought “wow, that’s the man.” I was in Europe when he was still racing, but I wasn’t at the level to be involved in anything he was.
A saying or motto you like: Live everyday to the fullest. Why wait around for the future? Just live and see where it takes you. Don’t hesitate.
Fave music: House music. And I’m a big fan of Powder Finger as well. We’ve known them for a few years after meeting them when they were in Cologne in 2001. It happened that we were all touring at the same time and we ended up seeing them four times in Germany and Australia around that time. I’m a big fan of Power Finger.
Fave TV show: Friends
Fave movie: Saving Private Ryan
Fave actor: Tom Hanks and Edward Norton
Fave food: Salad. I make them all of the time. Of course I love ice cream and chocolates a lot but I’d don’t get to eat them a lot.
