If you asked me what my highlights of the season were, it would go like this…
1. World Championships
2. Il Lombardia
3. South African Championships
One other performance that stands out for me though that’s not on the list is stage 6 of the Tour of Austria. Our team missed a dangerous break and Gerald Ciolek said he was feeling really good and wanted us to bring it back. Johann van Zyl, Martin Wesemann and I rode on the front for two hours to bring it back. We eventually did so and were all just limping to the finish line after the massive effort.
The three of us rolled across the line four minutes after the stage finished and the crowd started cheering when they saw us. We were then told Gerald won the stage. It made me feel really special to play such a big part in an important victory for the team.
Il Lombardia is also on my list as a favourite this season, which might seem strange as I only finished 52nd. When you dig deeper, you will see I was the youngest in the race and it was my very first WorldTour event. It was such a hard race and I can’t tell you how many emotions I was going through. You go through so many different feelings in six hours of racing, from pain to joy to excitement and then back to pain. I was totally spent when I finished the race but I was very happy to roll across the line only 12 minutes down on the winner. You could visibly notice the difference in a WorldTour event. No matter where you were in the bunch, you’d recognize the rider. I went up the Muro di Sormano with Philippe Gilbert and the crowd just went crazy for him when we passed. It was something cool to experience.
I’m having a bit of a break now before gearing up for Tour of Rwanda. It’s nice to be off the bike after a long season. I’ll take more days off after Rwanda before getting in shape for our training camp. Let’s build for 2014. I’m hoping it’s going to be a big one.
