Don’t forget, The brits have never won an olympic medal in triathlon.
« Obviously this isn’t an ideal situation, but I can say that this has been his best winter’s training, probably ever. We had scheduled a break from training at the end of the winter period anyway, so I am not overly concerned at this stage.
« He is swimming every day, and will train on a static bike today. He has been doing some light running, but now that he’s wearing the cast, we will allow the Achilles to repair before resuming light running again, hopefully within the next 10 days.
« Alistair’s first planned major race is the ITU World Triathlon San Diego in mid-May. We had never intended that he would race the World Triathlon Series event in Sydney in April, so he still has three months to prepare for that. »
+++++
Dirk Bockel joining Leopard Trek Radioshack
My third meeting happened just a few days ago when I joined Fabian Cancellara, Andy and Frank Schleck and the rest of Team Radioshack in Mallorca. This was a childhood dream for me. I always wanted to be a cyclist and had chances in the past, but I was too far developed in the sport of triathlon to make a change and start again. No way was I leaving a top level in triathlon to become an average guy in cycling. I stuck with what I’m good at doing just one sport would be too easy, right?
I found myself sitting at the table with some of the biggest names in cycling and chatting away after a long day of riding. Some of my proudest moments were when team manager, Johan Bruyneel, came by and said I had an impressive ride through the mountains with the skinny boys. When it came to a session of intervals I sat at the back and followed my team’s lead. I had the added pressure of the team car sat behind me which contained sport director Allan Gallopin. I tried to sit still on my bike and look relaxed while sucking in my belly in a hope of looking skinny. I couldn’t stop thinking I must be the biggest guy they had ever rode with in the mountains, but had my injury excuse of not being able to run and gaining a kilogram or two. Fortunately cross training in the snow and mountains of Austria helped to keep this to a minimum.
+++++