September 2: Dealing with disappointment

Hi there Cyclingnews readers,

Well, it was nice to get the best team award today. Obviously our team is riding really well so it is a good sign. I am definitely happy for Janez, he is a very strong rider. I am not so surprised that he has been doing well as I know he is very good, but to take the leader's jersey shows that he definitely has been riding extremely well so far.

I felt horrible yesterday. I felt bad the first day in the mountains and then yesterday was absolutely horrible. I could have ridden better up that climb in November! If you look at my performances all year, it just doesn't make any sense. I am not sick, there is nothing wrong with me - I have no idea what happened. I have never ridden that bad in my life. I was 36th on the mountain stage... 36th! I have never finished 36th on a mountain stage.

I would like to tell you what is going to happen from now on but I can't. Yesterday was a very disappointing day for me. It was very difficult for me mentally when I realised in the first minute on the climb that I was going as hard as I could but there was no power coming out of my legs.

The strange thing was that when I got back to the hotel, my legs weren't tired and they were not sore during the massage, either. It was weird, it was like just one cylinder out of four was firing. That was a new experience for me, to have such high expectations and then watch them all disappear in a few minutes of racing.

Now I am four minutes down. I have already had the disappointment, so it can only get better from here. I expect to ride better and hope tomorrow goes as it should.

Hasta luego for now,
Tom

Stage 8 results