Photo: © Anthony Tan

Moving on up: The Trent Wilson Journal 2003

Welcome to the Trent Wilson Journal for 2003. The young iTeamNova rider was one of the six who made the cut when the Australian Div III team merged with RDM-Flanders to form Flanders-iTeamNova, and move into Division II.

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A little bit of everything

G'day!

I have been in Belgium for almost a month now and the time's gone very quickly. When I first arrived here on February 11, it was a bit of a shock from the 40 degree temperatures of Malaysia. The inevitable happened and I got sick virtually straight away. Since then at least 80 percent of the team has been sick at some stage over the last month. Luckily, the minus two degrees at midday did not last for long, warming up to a comfortable 10 degrees and sunny, touch wood, not much rain yet!

The first race after Malaysia was Tour of Rhodes. I was dreaming of sunny days and beautiful beaches, but it was blowing a gale and cold for the week. I was supposed to ride for the general classification but with bad form and a lot of bad luck that never eventuated. The second day of the tour I punctured at a crucial time as the race was blown apart by the wind, my tour was over. For the rest of the week I went through the motions and tried to find form.

After that, it was back to Gent for a week to look for an apartment for the year. It was more difficult this year to find an available apartment but eventually got one right in the centre of Gent. The weather was good and we got some good training in for the week.

We were then off to Switzerland for the weekend for GP Chiasso and GP Lugano. It was a bit of an eye opener for me, normally a hill climber I got a few pointers off some off the peloton's top climbers. I do not really know how the form was because the competition was tough. Both days I was riding aggressively and near the front but did not have the legs to go with the big guns at the end.

Back again in Gent, and I have moved into my new pad. Training has just been recovery between races. Fayt Le Franc was on Wednesday and the legs were good. It was a fairly flat course, windy with cobbles. After many attacks all day it turned into a dwindled bunch kick of about 50 riders. I did not have the legs to mix it with the sprinters in the kick.

Now I am halfway through Guldensporen, a tour in Belgium. I cannot remember the last time I have ridden in such winds as I did today. A few times I was nearly blown off the road. It blew apart towards the end into five or six groups. So the month has had everything from bergs to flat, cold, cobbles, and blowing a gale. It has had a bit of everything. Monday morning bright and early, we are off to Sicily, Italy for Trofeo dell´Etna.

I'll keep you updated.

Cheers,
Willo