The dream of Jarrad Drizner’s debut season as a professional quickly turned into a nightmare when he badly lacerated his liver in a crash at the UAE Tour in February and even once he'd worked his way back from that life threatening injury there was little smooth sailing to be found.
The Australian Lotto Soudal rider returned to racing at the Tour de Pologne at the end of July after having recovered from the early season crash, where he also broke his nose and injured his finger. Drizners then gained a spot on the Vuelta a España squad to race his first Grand Tour, however, it was yet another case of an interrupted debut with the 23-year-old forced to pull the pin after nine days of racing.
“It was not what I wanted, put it that way,” Drizners told Cyclingnews. "I worked really hard to get to the Vuelta and then to get COVID, something so silly and to not have many symptoms was really frustrating.
“To try and stay positive at that time was really, really difficult. It's not been a great season for me."
By the start of August Drizners had managed just 27 days of racing, with eleven of those already on the results sheet before the heavy fall in the second last stage of the UAE Tour. That terrible crash triggered a difficult recovery which involved weeks in hospital, multiple surgeries and around two months before he could even return to a bike on the trainer and more than five months with no racing before his COVID-19 interrupted resumption.
"I've been robbed of my neo-pro season I would say,” Drizners said at his last race of the year, the Tour de Langkawi. “Not many race days, not fulfilling what I wanted to do this year, but next year is a fresh start and I’m looking forward already to that.”
In fact every time Drizners talked of the obstacles he faced in 2022 he was then quick to look forward to the opportunities ahead, acknowledging but certainly keen not to wallow in the challenges of his debut year. The work toward the new beginning 2023 represents had clearly begun already as Drizners raced the eight-day 2.Pro ranked Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia, which he came to via two one day European races that marked his post Vuelta restart.
"I need to finish off the season positively,” said Drizners on the sidelines of the hot and humid tour, which would add another eight days of racing to his slim first season tally.
At the Malaysian race, Drizners – who had started the season as a rider expected to play a role in Caleb Ewan’s lead out – got a chance to hone his sprint train skills and even took a top ten of his own on an undulating day on the island of Langkawi when the field was torn to shreds in an aggressive day of racing on stage 7.
It was a solid block of racing to finish 2022, which Drizners hopes will set him on the right path for an uninterrupted 2023, starting with the Australian Road National Championships in January.
"I just want a full season of racing, just to experience it all, learn lots, hopefully go to another Grand Tour and hopefully finish that Grand Tour,” Drizners said of his aspirations for 2023. “And just to do what I can for the boys – like I wanted to do this year - and be a part of the lead out with Caleb Ewan, one of the fastest sprinters in the world.
“It’s easy to get motivated for that.”
