2010: Great Season Ahead

It is going to be a great season. I can tell.

Locally, we have a great calendar for 2010. I am really looking forward to start training and racing and with a bit of luck, I will be getting on the bike to start clocking the kilometres in a couple of weeks. The racing will have to wait a little longer.

Planned for 2010 are also some hours in the gym and some cross-training. Everything tells me that I will need to get stronger to race in Masters A again. Team Racing has become the norm for club and open events so the races should be harder around here.

Being relatively new to gym work, I don't want to over-do it. That's when my cross-training will come into place and I will hit the surf again. Now, that's going to be an experience after two or three years without catching a wave.

In Professional cycling, the calendar looks pretty much the same. For us, in Australia, the most exciting race will be the Worlds in Victoria with Cadel Evans defending the rainbow jersey. My favourite for 2010 has to be the TdF. Not just the fact that there will be a lot mountain climbs this year but there will be more than a handful of riders that could take the Yellow jersey in Paris. Not that they all think that way...

That's what some of them are saying:



Alberto Contador

"In 2009 I won, but this year I'm going to take it relatively easy"
"I admit (Armstrong) pushed me to the limit in all areas, psychologically and physically... But it helped me a lot to mature and I hope to exploit that experience next year."



Andy Schleck

"My career goal is to win the Tour… For the moment there is someone stronger than me. I'd prefer not to have to face Contador. With him we've crossed a great talent; perhaps he is even stronger than Lance Armstrong."



Alessandro Valverde

"You have to be realistic - it won't be easy to beat Alberto Contador… Nevertheless, in a 21-day race nothing is impossible."



Cadel Evans

"I've had a focus on the Tour [de France] in recent years but I think I am able to race two grand tours at a high level."
"(Lance) is going to be bigger and more dangerous than in 2009. I think we'll see Armstrong at another level in 2010..."



Carlos Sastre

"...it is a spectacular Tour for climbers apart from those stages with pavé at the beginning of the Tour, with sections of Liège and Paris-Roubaix."



Ivan Basso

"I had form, but I was never able to be calm. With a year of racing, however, I am calm and secure..."
"More than the pavé in the first week, I am worried about Contador, who will be just as strong..."



Lance Armstrong

"Every muscle in my body that is focused on one goal: the Tour in 2010.”
"(Alberto) will be very hard to beat. Like Andy Schleck. He is a very good rider, perhaps the best we ever saw."


So Cheers!!! to a great racing season.