I am back at my European base in Switzerland, in a tiny village among the vineyards, farmlands and lakes in Suisse Romande the French part of Switzerland. I'm content with my efforts at Paris-Nice, and a little overwhelmed by the attention I received for coming second in one stage. When you win in professional sport you always get attention, and sometimes, you get it for coming second as well. Even the town baker was impressed with my efforts on Col d'Eze, one of the many differences of living in a culture where cycling is a little more mainstream than in Australia. My local baker there would not know me from a bar of soap; the Swiss baker probably knows my training and racing program better than my own Mother.
In retrospect, Paris-Nice showed some really positive signs of how things are coming along for me as I approach the more important part of my season: Leige-Bastonne-Leige, the Tour of Romandie and through to the Giro. Of course it was disappointing not be part of the decisive split in stage 4 to Mont Feron, but that is racing, and as an athlete, it is important not to dwell on what could have been. It is kind of hard when you are asked about it repeatedly for the days following though!
Stage 6 to Col d'Eze worked out as well is it could have for us. The team approached it as a good opportunity for me to get a result, so after Telekom had kept the early break at a safe distance, Dario Cioni and Lazlo Bodrogi – our Hungarian TT monster who won the prologue with "bad legs" – helped bring the escapees back to 2:10 at the base of the 10km climb. I followed Frigo out on the first steep section of the climb then went on my own. There were still some guys away and the more time I got between myself and Frigo before the gradient lessened, the better. As it turned out, Frigo got back to me with a bit more punch than I could handle. 40km/h up the climb was all I had in me and it was not enough for the win. Second at 15 seconds would have to be enough for now.
Robbie McEwen won again on the final day. Of all of the disciplines of cycling, the bunch sprinters always amaze me most. Watching Robbie squeeze through the crowd at some 50+km/h to come off our man Tom Steel's wheel at 150m to go, and hold off Baden Cooke for the win was amazing, as always. As a GC rider you do get a good view of the sprint, if you don't kill yourself leading out your own sprinter.
For now, I'll take it easy for a couple of days. Recovery rides and some fine-tuning for my next race, Coppi Bartali, a five-day stage race in the hills of Tuscany. We will see how things go.
CadelEvans.com - Cadel's own website