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An interview with Brad McGee

published 10 May 2006

Brad McGee's performance in stage one of this year's Giro came as a surprise to the Australian, and...

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Ready to before stage 1 of the Giro (Image credit: Giorgio Masnikosa)

Pieces of the puzzle

Brad McGee's performance in stage one of this year's Giro came as a surprise to the Australian, and signaled his emergence from a pretty long trough in form. Cyclingnews' Les Clarke caught up with McGee before stage 3 of the Giro in Perwez and found out how he has made it all fit together.

Brad McGee has won stages and prologues in the Tour de France and the Giro, and finished the 2004 Giro in eighth place on the general classification, a result that gave McGee even more ambition to chase the overall lead in Grand Tours.

But after a less-than-successful tilt at the 2005 Tour de France, he decided to target the shorter stage races, such as the Tour de Romandie, Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour de Suisse.

But the results he'd hoped for didn't quite eventuate, and following a tough year in 2005 and a difficult opening to 2006, McGee knew he had to go back to the drawing board.

The tough stretch culminated in a poor showing at the Tour de Romandie last month, where McGee had hoped to win the prologue, but came out empty-handed and feeling pretty low.

It was then time for the Giro, which the Olympic gold medallist came into with a low profile and mixed emotions. He came out in the prologue in Seraing and clocked a time of 8'01", 11 seconds behind fast-finishing stage winner Paolo Savoldelli. It was a great turnaround in form - not from the perspective of taking a win, but how McGee felt inside.