Former junior world champ back to his ominous best, targets time trial
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Luke Davison powers towards the line in the men's under 23 time trial.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
A class above at Heffron Park in Sydney, but can Davison step up in Oceanias?(Image credit: Anthony Sill)
Davison has been getting back into that winning habit over the last 3 months.(Image credit: Anthony Sill)
Davison up-staged WorldTour rider Chris Sutton (Sky) when last they competed together at Heffron.(Image credit: Anthony Sill)
Luke Davison (Budget Forklifts) is a markedly changed rider from the brash youngster that won three world championship titles in South Africa nearly four years ago. A deserved winner of the Junior Australian Track cyclist of the year in 2008 for his efforts, Davison was burdened with huge expectations; expectations that perhaps hindered his progression.
An ill-fated year with the AIS squad in 2009 burned Davison out, and for over a year, to the dismay of his coaches, he hung up the bike. In many ways it was a year Davison needed, he went into full-time work often riding his bike less than an hour a week if at all, but he matured during that time, and is now back on the bike and transformed.
When he did make his return to cycling, through a leg-up from SASI (South Australian Institute of Sport) director Tim Decker, Davison said that his outlook on cycling had changed. More focused, more grounded, and enjoying riding again he rode with Jayco-2XU for the first half of 2011 before making a switch to continental outfit Budget Forklifts. That move has seen Davison flourishing once more, and with the Oceania Championships just a week away Davison told Cyclingnews that the confidence is back, and he's rediscovered that hunger for success.
"You’ve got to remember how to win, and that takes a while. But then the hunger develops and you start hunting out the wheels you need to be close to, naturally that means you ride closer to the front, and you have to be stronger to do that. It’s a snowball effect, and you end up being in the mix a lot more."
The Australian explained that with the difficulty of the road race course in New Zealand unsuited to his characteristics he's put all his eggs in one basket as he aims for gold in the time trial.
"All my training over the last month has been time trial specific. Three or four sessions per week [with the SASI squad in Adelaide] where that’s all it’s been about, so hopefully that can translate into a good result," said Davison.
Though not normally a specialist in the time trial, Davison showed he can feature amongst the best in the discipline, with a sixth place at nationals behind Jay McCarthy and Rohan Dennis - neither of which will be at Oceanias. Since then he said that he's been clocking some strong numbers in training, and he's confident that given things coming together on the day he's in with a strong chance.
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"The confidence is there, you can’t start a 40 kilometre time trial not thinking you can win it - then you’re already behind the eight ball. I think there are four or five guys who can win - guys like Calvin Watson who is flying at the moment and [Damien] Howson. If [Campbell] Flakemore has held his form from nationals then he’ll be hard to beat as well. I’ve placed a lot of emphasis on Oceanias because it’s a major chance for me to make that nationals squad, and earn a place for l’Avenir, or under 23 worlds."
Alex Hinds is a graduate of Economics and Political Science from Sydney University. Growing up in the metropolitan area of the city he quickly became a bike junkie, dabbling in mountain and road riding. Alex raced on the road in his late teens, but with the time demands of work and university proving too much, decided not to further pursue full-time riding.
If he was going to be involved in cycling in another way the media seemed the next best bet and jumped at the opportunity to work in the Sydney office of Cyclingnews when an offer arose in early 2011.
Though the WorldTour is of course a huge point of focus throughout the year, Alex also takes a keen interest in the domestic racing scene with a view to helping foster the careers of the next generation of cycling.
When not writing for Cyclingnews Alex is a strong proponent of the awareness of cyclists on the road in Sydney having had a few close run-ins with city traffic in the past.
