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Tassie devil: The Sid Taberlay diary 2004
24 year-old Tasmanian Sid Taberlay is a man on a mission. The current Australian and Oceania mountain bike champion, Sid is, like so many athletes this year, striving for a berth at the Athens Olympics Games. But his never-say-die attitude, down-to-earth deameanour and a desert-dry sense of humour - not forgetting a bloody big motor! - puts Sid in the best position possible to realise a life-long dream.
XC World Cup #1 - CDM, Madrid, Spain, May 23, 2004
A blinder of a start
Howdy, I've had a blinder of a start at the first World Cup in Spain. After a bad call-up, based on not doing the World Cups last year, I get 89th position. I get a lucky break on the start line, with the far left side being empty. No one wants the challenge of lining up with a great big banner in front of them.
The gun goes and I line up the banner, hook to the side and I'm off and racing, I've got the hole shot. Off the start, I'm in the top 20, then I hear a crash behind me, look back - that's it, no one's coming past - they're all in a heap. I chase for the first two laps to get on the back of the top 10. At the start of the third lap, they all sit up, no one wants to do the work at the front. I carry my momentum, from chasing, to go off the front.
Looking back, I've got a gap. All I could think was, what do I do? Go for it with the top 10 in the world chasing or wait and sit on them. Not every day you get to lead a World Cup, third lap in, I'm having a crack. Soon to be caught by world champion, Filip Meirhaeghe, jumping on his wheel; it was a sprint up every climb, surely he can't keep this up?! I popped after three-quarters of a lap, he kept it up to win by two minutes. I used what I had left to be caught by the rest of the top guys on the last half a lap. Finishing with a creditable ninth, 3'11 down, which is an Australian three percent Olympic qualifer.
Unless two other Australians finish with a better percentage, you'll be seeing me on the telly at the Olympics.
Regards, Sid.
