Battle Scars by Stuart O'Grady

Author:Stuart O'Grady
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Hardie Grant Books
Published: 2014-02-09T16:00:00+00:00

In the months leading up to that trip to Dublin, I’d realised that Rok was a key element to my success in Manchester because the work we did paid dividends straight away. When we first started working together, I was the one telling him what I needed to do; but Rok has a strong background in physical education, he is a bike-rider and a smart guy who knows a lot about physiology and the human mind. He was also very good at telling me the truth, he wasn’t afraid to call it as it he saw it or to put his ideas forward. It was really important for me to have someone to bounce ideas off because life in Toulouse was pretty solitary at times. I didn’t have another coach to talk to, or anyone besides Anne-Marie to confide in, and I didn’t like bringing my work home. I wouldn’t sit around the dinner table and tell Anne-Marie, ‘I just did five hours and all these efforts.’ Rok, however, would fit right in to that conversation. We’d been friends for a long time so it was the perfect relationship because he was also a mentor for me.

Before any big occasion—Olympic Games, Paris–Roubaix—I’d always phone him just before the race to tell him how I saw the event unfolding, as though it was a film in my head. ‘Every dog has his day mate, what do you reckon?’ I’d say. Because ultimately, no matter how much training you’ve done, one of the most important ingredients for any bike-rider is confidence.

After my conversation with Rok in Dublin, I decided to go for the Classics. I was done chasing the green jersey at the Tour de France, I’d been up there but if it was going to happen it would have happened by now, so we shifted our focus to races like Paris–Roubaix and Tour of Flanders. I thought I was more suited to Flanders because Roubaix guys tend to be bigger with legs twice the size of mine so they could handle the cobbles better. Flanders was a race I thought I could maybe win; it was one of those out-there dreams. Flanders has more climbs so there’s a thinner field when the race gets interesting at the end and, unlike Paris– Roubaix where guys can sprint into each sector and come in kamikaze-style, Flanders is hard, twisty and windy with 20 per cent (gradient) climbs so the field thins out selectively.

Milan–San Remo was another spring Classic I wanted to believe I could win, but I knew there was always going to be someone quicker than me in the final. I had some success in that race—third in 2004, fourth in 2005 and fifth in 2007—but never quite the ultimate success. I wasn’t a pure sprinter like Alessandro Petacchi or Erik Zabel; they were quicker than me and there was nothing I could do about it.

My new training regime with Rok started in Australia in December 2002. He had me in the gym—something I’d never done in my life—but now I was there four or five times a week.

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