Lloyd aiming for place in Garmin-Cervélo Classics squad

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Daniel Lloyd has already begun his training ahead of the 2011 season and hopes that his early preparation will earn him a place in the new Garmin-Cervélo Classics line-up.

Lloyd, who has ridden for Cervélo TestTeam for the past two years, moved to the newly formed Garmin-Cervélo team with Roger Hammond, Heinrich Haussler, Andreas Klier, Brett Lancaster, Thor Hushovd and Gabriel Rasch. On paper, at least, the team look to be one of the strongest Classics outfits in the peloton, with the likes of Tyler Farrar, Martijn Maaskant, Johan Van Summeren already on the team’s books.

The squad will all meet up for the first time at a training camp in the Cayman Islands at the end of November.

“We’ve not been sent many details yet but I can’t imagine we’ll do a huge amount of riding. Most of the time we’ll just be getting to know everyone, doing a few activities and sitting down with the race directors to get our programmes,” Lloyd told Cyclingnews.

With little training planned during their stay on the islands, the team will instead focus on getting to know each other and integrating what up to now have been two rival squads.

“Not only are the management are going to make sure there’s not two separate groups of riders. I’m going to make a huge effort to make sure I don’t just sit down with my old teammates from last year. That would create an atmosphere,” Lloyd said.

“I think everyone will integrate immediately and we’ve all got to work together. That’s the big idea for this camp really, to help integration and get everyone together.”

This season Lloyd jam-packed two grand tours into his programme with the Giro and Tour, as well as the Dauphiné and the Classics. It was a huge step up for a rider racing at ProTour level for just his second season but he was a integral part of Cervelo’s team before tiring after the Tour.

However with 2011 now on the horizon Lloyd is already thinking about his race programme and is willing to leave any ambitions of riding the Tour for a crack at the Classics.

“I’ve got an idea of what I’d like to do, especially something like the Tour of Flanders with Thor being in the rainbow jersey. It’s going to be a huge privilege to be on the start line in those kinds of races where he’s got a chance of winning. They’re also the races I’ve most enjoyed and done well in over the last couple of years.”

Spaces for such races will be limited, especially with the talent now on the team.

“It’s not something that’s been discussed but obviously the team is hugely strong in that area. There are seven of us that have gone across who like to do those races and they’ve already got riders of their own who are more than capable of doing them too. I’ll be doing my best to get into those races.

“In theory we should be competitive in all types of races and one of the best teams in the world but I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been training for a couple of weeks now, even though the weather has been pretty grotty here. I know that I need to be going better than ever to get into the races I want to do, so the work starts now.”