Saturday, April 20, 2024

Big Race: Small Race

-

Big Race: Small Race. Mid June has been and gone, and I find myself up in the northeast of Italy once again (Arona to be precise), this time at a couple of tiny one day races. We came through the same area for the finale of the Giro, where Ivan Basso turned the screws over the final few days to win the overall.

A significantly smaller proposition awaits us tomorrow!

The total distance tomorrow is somewhere around 180km, and it’s lumpy, but not ridiculously so. Sunday is about 170km and relatively flat.

The teams here are slightly smaller in stature, and the goals for us are a bit of fine-tuning for our sprint boys, and a couple more races for our younger blokes.

Big Race: Small Race
Rabin keeping an eye on things.

There is a grand total of 6 staff members here, compared to the 15-odd we had at the Giro at times, and while the boys will be up for it tomorrow, the vibe is certainly more chilled out. It’s a very nice time out after the Giro and before the Tour from my point of view.

We shall see how we go, but when Tyler’s in the race, we’re going to figure in some way! Fingers crossed it’s another win for Garmin Transitions!

Toby Watson
Toby Watsonhttps://www.veloveritas.co.uk
Ex-Garmin Transitions physiotherapist and soigneur Toby Watson brings you inside the squad, and shows you what it's like to be working with a top team on the biggest races in the world. Through his regular blog updates, Toby shares his sense of drama and fun that were essential parts of his job. Toby is Australian, and currently lives in Girona with his fiancee Amanda. If he has any time, he enjoys reading and running, and occasionally skiing too, when he can.

Related Articles

Toby Watson – Today is the Big Day

Today is the big day. The culmination of the road cycling programme for the London Olympics. I can’t believe we’re already here!

Two Weeks Out

Two Weeks Out. If the energy was up a week ago, things have gotten even more hyped for all of the teams headed to le Tour now. Cyclists will have ridden themselves into or out of spots as the final places are essentially solidified based on a combination of form, usefulness to team goals and personality.

Le Tour de France 2012 – High Speed & High Stakes

The Tour Prologue is one of the most High Speed & High Stakes stages in bike racing. 6.4km of maximum effort, with the winner being gifted with the Yellow Jersey at the end of the day. The value placed upon this for teams, sponsors and the riders themselves is truly enormous.

The Final Efforts: Stage 18 (bunchie)

The Final Efforts. We’re on the downhill slope for this race now, and the fatigue is starting to show. It’s getting tougher and tougher to chisel our heads off the pillow each morning, and the coffees are having smaller and smaller effects.

At Random

Le Tour de France 2017 – Stage 5: Vittel – La planche des belles filles, 160.5km. Fabio Aru’s classy win

It may seem like scant evidence to base a major assertion upon but from what happened in the Stage One time trial – and yesterday’s first significant ascent of the race, La Planche des Belle Filles, Chris Froome (Sky & GB) has the 2017 Tour de France won barring disasters or acts of God.

Tomás Swift-Metcalfe’s Blog: The Season Starts…

The Tomás Swift-Metcalfe season has started, my sixth season as a professional. The weather here has been brilliant (a little cold at 10-12ºC) but always sunny and it's been fantastic training up for these races.

The Clutha Vaults Tragedy

It's easy to sigh and shake your head when you read or hear that a drone has yet again 'zapped' the wrong target out there in the Middle East - and easy to carry on with your day. But when it's on your door step, in a place you love, it's altogether different. I heard on the radio, early on the Saturday morning that a helicopter had crashed on to a pub in Glasgow at 10:30 pm on Friday but didn't catch the name of the bar. 'That's horrible' I thought to myself and carried on editing our Yuriy Metlushenko interview.

Douglas Dewey – Aiming for The World Tour but Touring the World Instead

My eyes snap open to golden dappled rays silhouetting pine branches above - beneath me a pillow of twigs and earth, nearby a lake nestled between snowy peaks shimmers enticingly. My legs are in a tent, my body protruding out. I think I'm naked.