Plan to miss Tour Down Under "better" for rider's long term future
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Roe (BMC) is building toward a return in the early spring.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Tim Roe will not be riding the Tour Down Under this year, but is in Adelaide training with the team.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Tim Roe (BMC) is sitting out this year's Tour Down Under in the hope that he'll be fully recovered from a hip injury that plagued his 2011 season. The Australian rode his first year in the prestigious WorldTour with the team last season but struggled to adjust to the higher level of racing.
"You go from being one of the best climbers at the under 23 level to one of the first guys to get dropped," said Roe. "It’s all a lot harder, and I think I’ve learned that lesson now. Hopefully I can just concentrate on riding the bike now."
Despite the injury, Roe also insists that he's feeling considerably stronger this year, and hopes to be competing again in the near future.
"I definitely feel a lot stronger now, you adapt to the competition, your body adjusts and you improve," said Roe.
"When I wasn’t making the progress I wanted to be making in December I told the guys maybe it’s better that I don’t do the Tour Down Under. I know a lot of riders say that riding the Tour Down Under can be hard."
Roe next heads to Europe for a training camp with his BMC teammates.
For the full interview see below.
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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.
