In this entertaining read, Irish-born neo pro Chris Juul Jensen says his first races at Saxo Bank have been challenging but he feels he’s progressing well within a supportive team environment.
When looking back on my first two months as a pro, a teenage visit to a particularly poor Dublin pizza parlour springs to mind. My Dad, who can always be relied upon for useless information, made the point that “pizza is like sex; even when it’s bad it’s still ok”.
At the time, I missed the point because I was only into pizza. Today, I think I know what he was talking about (honest).
Why am I talking about pizza? The reason is that I’ve decided to approach my career as a pro with this mindset. I know there will be many tough races ahead. However, I will experience all of these obstacles as a pro cyclist, which has been my dream ever since putting on the Sorrento CC jersey as a ten-year-old. So at the end of the day, it won’t be that bad!
From my first meeting with Team Saxo Bank on our team building trip to Israel in November, I have been impressed by the unique team atmosphere.
At every camp and race so far I’ve felt relaxed and at ease amongst my new teammates and staff members and I’ve really enjoyed the experience.
I’ve gained a lot from the professional and positive mentality, and I’ve returned home only looking forward to my next trip with the team.
I really have to pinch myself when I consider how spoilt we are with top equipment, a luxury coach and our private award winning chef. So no dodgy pizza on the menu when travelling with Team Saxo Bank!
Recently I did the Tour de Haut Var in France, which consisted of two very demanding stages with a lot of climbing. And it was great fun! Being in the bunch surrounded by such a high quality group of riders – and as a member of a ProTour team – really put things into perspective. This is what I can expect practically every time I pin on my number and go racing. Cool!
The race lived up to its reputation; fast, tough and physically demanding from beginning to end – especially the final day (205km, 3,500 climbing metres, all in 5:30hrs of racing) .
Our goal was to look after Dani Navarro the whole day, and to make sure he was delivered into the final phase as fresh as possible. The plan was followed. Once the hammer really went down within the final 15km, the favourites were left to battle it out on their own. For the rest of us; it was pure survival!
Considering the intensity of the stage, I felt reasonably good. I knew I wasn’t at the front, but I decided to give it my all and see what I could get out of it, apart from good training. To my surprise I finished 31st. Although not a huge result compared to what other ‘’neo professionals’’ have been achieving of late, I was really pleased.
It proved that I had done my homework the last couple of months, benefiting from the increase in training and general heightened intensity of racing as a pro.
I’m confident that during each race and training camp I will continue to develop; hopefully leading to strong rides and perhaps even better results.
Next on the program is a training camp in Spain with the entire team. And if everything goes according to plan, I’ll be travelling directly to Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen where I can only imagine another great experience awaits!
Cheers
Chris J
Stickybottle did a feature-length interview with Chris a few months back in which he talked about his Irish upbringing before moving to Denmark – the land of his parents – to develop his cycling in that country’s progressive “cycling school” structure.
If you missed it, catch up with it here: http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/from-the-sugarloaf-to-saxo-sungard-a-grinder-ventures-into-the-big-time/