Ian Richards has just completed his first season racing in Europe and has sent us his final report of 2011, looking back on a successful season which has seen him endure some pretty tough and rewarding racing. Ian trains on a Wattbike and says it has vastly improved his time-trialling.
Thanks for the update Ian, enjoy the winter training and look forward to a cracking 2012!
If I look back at my year so far, it is something that I never expected. I have accomplished far more than my highest expectations. So far I’ve raced in 3 classics; each of these has tested my newly learnt (dutch) skills to the highest possible level. From racing in ‘The Hell of the North’ Land van Bartje with its extremely difficult cobbled sections, to Flevotour with wind like I’ve never seen before and also in Simpelveld which climbed over some of the hardest Hills in the Netherlands.
I’ve raced in Belgium and Holland in many criteriums and Kermesses placing well every time. Although I had a terrible start to my season with the crash in my first major race I have come back and raced very well.
After placing well in the classics I was selected to race for the South-Holland combination team in Holland’s biggest junior tour, the uci international tour of Axel. Unfortunately I fell sick a week before this race and didn’t race at my full potential. Although on the last stage I managed to do okay and finish 54th overall from such a big strong field of nearly 200.
After the tour of Axel I came back strong and took out my first 2 podiums of the year including the awesome title of Champion of South-Holland.
The next tour for me was the Argos Oil Acht van Bladel which was a good tour for me. I rode and finished well in the 2nd stage and also did well in the time trial which was a great boost for my confidence.
After these good results I was again selected for one of the biggest European Junior Tours with the combination team, the uci tour of Kontich. What a race! It included 1 time trial, 1 team time trial and 3 road races! Ouch! After lots of tough racing I managed to finish 3rd on the last stage which is the best result of my career.
After some much needed rest and a nice holiday to Italy with the team manager I came back strong taking out my second win of the year. I was surprised to win in such a strong field, with riders like Stan Godrie and Paul Moerland.
After racing in Simpelveld I felt ready to race my last tour of the year, the Westbrabanste Pijl. The first stage was another windy typical dutch road race. The field was split apart and 2 of my team mates were out of the race on the first day.
After an impressive time trial for myself I finished the next race in the lead group and only one minute down on the leader Tim Rodenburg. On the final 135km queen stage of the race I managed to climb the general classification rankings into the top 30 sitting at 29th.
So that’s my season so far, and all of my major races done and finished. I’m extremely happy with my performance, 4 podium places is a lot more than I even thought possible. I couldn’t have wished for anything this good without the help of my team manager Raijmond Van Der Vlies, he has helped me all year and I can’t thank him enough! On the riding side, my time trial is definitely the biggest improvement of the season for me and I couldn’t have done this without my great sponsor Wattbike!
Europe has certainly dished out its hardest racing for me and I’m excited to return in 2012. I will be staying in Holland till the 28th of October and then returning to Brisbane for 3 months where I plan to come back to Holland on the 1st of February.
