The Coffee Ride #97, with Reece Homfray
BRENDAN Canty was at the hotel buffet having dinner after his epic ride up Green Mountain in the Tour of Oman when it hit him what he’d done that day.
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CANTY EARNS HIGH PRAISE AT THE BUFFET
BRENDAN Canty was at the hotel buffet having dinner after his epic ride up Green Mountain in the Tour of Oman when it hit him what he’d done that day.
Richie Porte — who Canty had only ever watched in awe of on TV in the Tour de France — spotted him and came over.
“I saw him and he noticed me and made an effort to come around and say ‘well done’ which was nice,” Canty said.
“To have a guy like Richie Porte come up to me at the buffet and congratulate me ... He said he was very impressed with what I did.
“I’ve watched him race in the Tour de France, so racing against someone like him and then having him turn around and acknowledge my efforts was quite special.”
Canty, who has only been racing his bike for just over two years, is emerging as one of Australia’s most promising young cyclists.
Albeit that at 24 he is a latecomer to the sport after spending his junior years playing football and basketball and then later focusing on running.
His first ever road race was a local event in November, 2013, in Victoria. At the time his main sport was still running and he was studying commerce at Melbourne University.
“I’d been doing a bit of riding on the side with the local bike shop bunch and when I won that race it got me thinking about potentially signing with a team because a few teams contacted me about 2014.
“So I made the decision to stop running and signed up with Search 2 Retain.”
Since then, Canty has gone from strength to strength and an impressive 13th overall in the Abu Dhabi Tour as a trainee with Drapac last year led to a two-year professional contract with the Australian team.
He started this season with an impressive 11th place at the national championships in what proved to be a brutal race of attrition.
He then rode the Tour de San Luis in Argentina before the Tour of Oman where he finished seventh overall, won the young rider classification and was eighth on the queen stage to Green Mountain behind the likes of Vincenzo Nibali, Romain Bardet, Jakob Fuglsang, Tom Dumoulin and Rui Costa.
“It’s always hard to know what sort of expectations I should have on myself, not a lot of people out there knew who I was but I had the belief that I could do it,” Canty said.
“And when you’re out there during a race with some of the best riders in the world and there are not too guys left, it was a pretty surreal experience to be in that situation.
“I could take quite a bit from racing in Abu Dhabi (last year) and although my results there weren’t quite as good as racing in Oman, it still gave me that little confidence boost to know I’m not too far off the pace.
“I never really start a racing thinking ‘I can’t do it’ or ‘these guys are so much better than me’, but they’re definitely more experienced and bike handling is one thing (I can improve) — especially the sprinters can handle themselves really well.
“So for me trying to hold my teammates’ wheel and move around the bunch, that’s not one of my strengths but I see it improving quite a lot and that’s natural.”
Canty said the biggest influence on his blossoming career in the saddle was former competitive cyclist Andrew Stalder.
“He used to race against Simon Gerrans and went to Europe for a bit, and now he works full time but still rides plenty,” Canty said.
“He’s always been there to give me a bit of advice and I look to him as a role model and mentor. Any time I’m away racing he follows my results closely and asks how I’m going.”
Canty wasn’t selected for Drapac’s team for the Tour Down Under but hopes to get his chance in the future.
“Where I come from as a first-year professional the team thought San Luis would be better suited to me,” he said.
“With the parcours having some big long climbs where as Tour Down Under is a bit shorter and punchier, but hopefully there are some opportunities to do the Tour Down Under down the track.”
Now back in Australia, Canty is preparing for the Oceania Championships in Bendigo this week, before going to Europe for April.
“I’m pretty new to cycling so some of the names (of races) I’m not that familiar with, but there are a few tours pencilled in with quite a few climbs,” he said.
“Hopefully I will use the results from Oman and show people what I can do. The big thing now is to back it up and go well again in Europe.”
MEYER BACK ON TRACK TO FIX HIS NEED FOR SPEED
FOUR years after his sixth and last world championship gold medal on the track, Australian cyclist Cameron Meyer is back in the green and gold in London this week.
The 28-year-old was a surprise inclusion in Australia’s team for the world titles which begin today after re-discovering his motivation for racing on the velodrome over summer.
Meyer raced the Tour Down Under with WorldTour team Dimension Data in January but it was his second place in the national madison championships with Leigh Howard in December which piked his interest to get back on the boards seriously.
While his partner for London is yet to be announced by Cycling Australia, Meyer is confident he can come away with a medal in his first track world titles since 2012.
That year he won the points race but he has twice been world champion in the madison in 2010 and 2011.
“I always had a desire to continue on the track at some stage,” Meyer told The Advertiser.
“I did some more track training in the pre-season to get ready for the Australian summer and placed second at the Australian Madison Championship.
“This gave me the motivation and the qualifying points to put my hand up for selection at the world championships.”
Meyer comes into the championships on the back of a solid road base built over summer and an intensive track camp in Spain to get his legs up to speed.
“It’s exciting being back on the boards,” he said.
“It’s where I started (but) I’m a it nervous at the same time (as to) what the racing will be like at the worlds.
“I haven’t done as much track as most others I will go up against but I have the strength of the road and a track camp in Spain trying to find that extra speed.
“I’m confident I can be up there challenging for a medal. I know my partner will be strong and I think if we can gel together in the short time we have then you never know the win might be possible.”
Meyer hinted that this week’s world titles might not be the last he’s seen on the track with one eye on other major meets in the future.
“I think this definitely keeps my toe in the water for future major track competitions,” he said.
“The more I do the easier the transition will be back to the boards and the more chance I will have of selection.”
After London Meyer will dedicate the rest of his season to the road, racing the Tour of Catalunya and then going on an altitude camp to prepare him for his major objectives the Tour of California and Tour of Swizterland — where he is a two-time stage winner.
The track world championships begin tonight with the men’s and women’s team sprint the highlights of the program.
Anna Meares, Kaarle McCulloch and Stephanie Morton are all in contention but only two can ride the team event.
UCI TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
LONDON, MARCH 2-6
Wednesday:
Men’s and women’s team sprint
Women’s individual pursuit
Men’s scratch race
Thursday:
Men’s team pursuit
Women’s keirin
Men’s 1km TT
Women’s scratch race
Friday:
Women’s 500m TT
Men’s points race
Men’s individual pursuit
Women’s team pursuit
Men’s omnium
Saturday:
Men’s sprint
Women’s points race
Women’s omnium
Sunday:
Men’s madison
Women’s sprint
Men’s keirin
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
IN CASE you missed it on the weekend, here is the feature interview with Australia’s women’s team pursuit squad as it prepares to defend its world title in London.
Riders and staff took time out of their training before they left to give insight into the family-like bond which exists among the team.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK ...
“I had spent months training for these races and to have it end like that so quickly is disappointing to say the least.”
- Mat Hayman after breaking his arm in the weekend’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad which will see him miss the Spring Classics.
“Now, it’s about Kaarle McCulloch and how far I can take myself and what can I do, how good can I be, it doesn’t matter about anybody else anymore it only matters about me.”
- Kaarle McCulloch tells Cyclingnews.com about her mindset going into this week’s world championships.
“Shane (Sutton) has been around a lot more in track centre, and when he’s right and motivating it just lifts the group. I always like that. You just feel it’s about performance now.”
- Bradley Wiggins tells The Telegraph about the influence of Shane Sutton and Heiko Salzwedel at team pursuit training.
TWEET, TWEET
— Anna Meares returns to the velodrome in London where she won Olympic gold four years ago.
Originally published as The Coffee Ride #97, with Reece Homfray
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