Michael Woods is happy to just be at the Tour of Britain after an unexpected trip to hospital three days before it left him going through all kinds of suffering on the race’s first stage in Scotland.
“I had a weird infection. It wasn’t terrible, but I had to go on antibiotics and they and the illness impacted me big time,” Woods told Cyclingnews at the Tour of Britain. “Every day, I think I’ll get better, recovering from that.”
It’s the latest in a succession of unlucky events this season for the Canadian climber. He fell mid-race at the Tour de France and suffered through the Alps, before having to abandon on the final morning after a COVID-19 positive.
Woods then crashed out of the Vuelta a España on stage 3, suffering a concussion. The Tour of Britain is his first race back.
“It’s been a really frustrating year in that sense,” Woods said. “The days where I've been healthy and good, I've won races. But there have been a lot of days where I've just been sick or injured.”
“And the Vuelta was the icing on the shit cake, it was just devastating. Because I came off the Tour with great form, despite getting COVID-19 on the last day. I felt like I was really going to contend at that Vuelta, especially with the parcours and the way the race has unfolded already this year. It would have suited me.”
The Canadian refers to 2022 as his “least lucky” year of racing. “But I think the most important thing is just keeping perspective,” he adds. “Despite the fact I’ve had a really bad season, it’s not like I have a bad life. Relative to other people, I have a lot of great fortune and still get paid to ride my bike and race, which I love to do.”
In spite of his misfortune, wins at the Route d’Occitanie and Gran Camiño, second place at the Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes one-day race and sixth at the Flèche Wallonne have helped with important points this year for Israel-Premier Tech. The team is in a fierce fight against relegation from the WorldTour.
“From the top rider in the peloton to the worst, I think the feelings are unanimous: that the relegation system doesn’t make sense for a lot of reasons,” Woods says. “From a UCI points perspective, how it’s weighted. From a perspective of how it favours small races, it encourages weird racing that I think is less intriguing and entertaining. I think that’s a common thread among riders.”
As the points pursuit carries on, his big goals for the autumn will be the Italian one-day races. “If the World Championships course really suited me, then I’d be there. I still want to race my bike and still want to be in contention for it,” he said.
Last week, the 35-year-old posted on Twitter about how the racing calendar needs a more logical travel pattern because the schedules force teams to run triple programmes at a far greater carbon footprint.
What can a rider do individually to change these things? “I think trying to lead by example as much as possible,” he says.
“Reading the article that came out in Cycling Weekly a few weeks ago, it set some good examples. Pushing for that internally within the team is the best way you can do it as a rider.” Woods has helped to do that at Israel-Premier Tech, who have switched their fleet to hybrid vehicles.
“It’s the same with my carbon offsets too,” Woods, who went carbon neutral last season, added. “It’s not a great way to solve this, but if we can just set an example, I think that’s the key. Normalise being climate-friendly because that’s how you influence policy.”
