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blog Mark Cavendish: Looking Forward to Suffering, Not Stressing 13/07/15 - 18:21

"It's the Tour de France."

That's the phrase you hear in the first week most. Whether you're a neo-professional or a 15x veteran. Every day brings a stress that subsided, but was never quite forgotten from the year before. You come back and realise what makes the Tour de France so unique. The consequences of every action, on and off the bike, are exaggerated, analysed, and have a direct effect on your next action.

I’m sat here in Pau, on the first rest day of the 2015 Tour de France, and I actually asked my press officer if I could write this blog instead of just talking into a microphone. I’ve been talking into microphones for over a week now, about my ups and downs, my teams ups and downs, my competitors ups and downs, even ups and downs of riders who aren’t at the race. And writing this gives me some relief from the “particular” things I do. Instead I’d almost certainly be doing 1 of the following: tidying my suitcase, turning my handlebars 2 or 3 degrees, raising or lowering my saddle a couple of millimeters, or telling my masseur that my feet still don’t feel parallel to one another.

Anyway, it’s nice to just relax. In fact, in a strange way, I’m looking forward to the next mountainous half of the Tour de France to “relax”. Not the legs of course, just the head. I’m looking forward to just suffering. No need to ride 200km with my fingers slightly contracted over my brake levers. No need to ride 200km with my elbow constantly touching someones hip. No need to ride 200km with Brian Holm telling us to stay at the front after we’ve just passed a roundabout on the wrong side and lost 60 positions.

You see it’s the mental, emotional stress that makes the 1st week of the Tour de France the hardest week of racing in the calendar. And what an emotional roller coaster Etixx-Quick-Step have had this last week!

3 wins, from 3 different riders, in 3 totally different finals. But all with one thing in common: A group of friends all giving everything to make sure the team jersey crosses the finish line first. From the cooks making our porridge in the morning, to the mechanics, soigneurs, press officers, sports directors and riders, everything has to go right, every day, to succeed against the 200 best bike riders in the world, all at peak condition, all trying for the most prestigious and demanding event in cycling, perhaps sport.

If I’m honest, I’m already losing my attention to write a blog, but if you’re reading this, then I’m sure you know how the week has gone, results wise, for the team. You’ll also know the heartache we had when we lost our friend and teammate, Tony Martin, in a crash while he wore the yellow jersey.

But the Tour doesn’t wait. Whether you gain or lose in a certain day, the next day will have a different challenge, that if you don’t seize, another team will. So whatever emotions I’ve had, good and bad, this first week, are really nice to reflect on today, but will be irrelevant tomorrow and the following week. I just know that whatever emotions we’re likely to feel, I’m looking forward to just suffering, not stressing.

Embedded Images ©BrakeThrough Media

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blog Michal Golas: A Tireless, Unselfish Worker 11/07/15 - 19:04

You may have seen a selfless rider of Etixx – Quick-Step with Polish stripes on his sleeves, always on the front or working tirelessly for his teammates during key moments in the first week of Le Tour de France. That rider is Michal Golas, who yet again represented his team well by entering into an escape group in the 8th stage of Le Tour.

Michal talks about his experience as a domestique for Etixx – Quick-Step in the following blog.

I went in the breakaway today after working hard yesterday at the front of the peloton for 170km, in order to control the pace for my teammates who wanted to make the sprint for Mark Cavendish. It's been a long two days at the front of the race, but I am happy to try and help my team in any way I can.

This morning we had a feeling something happen during the race. We were awake, ready for any action in the peloton. After the bonification there was a group that took a small gap. So we went, Kwiato, Cav and I, just to see because you never know. If it's a good reaction you can take advantage. But of course the group saw a lot of strong guys in the selection and controlled the gap. Also the guys were looking a bit to each other, so we took advantage and we went as a group of three. It was really full gas from that point until the moment they caught us. In the end it was a nice selection, but in a race like it is difficult to go to the finish. Especially with the finish on the Mûr de Bretagne, which was the first chance for the GC guys to show themselves. Now we look forward to the TTT tomorrow, having already won a few stages, and we put Tony in yellow before his unfortunate crash. It's been quite a week where Etixx – Quick-Step has always been in the actions.

This is my 2nd Tour de France in a row, so it is also nothing new to do this kind of work for a lot of kilometers during the three-week race. As you can see by the success we had this week, with three wins and the yellow jersey, it is all worth it. Le Tour is something I really enjoy. It's so hard, but at the same time it is beautiful. Not just the racing, but where we race. We passed through Holland, Belgium, and now France, all the places with deep cycling tradition. We saw it before the race even started during the team presentation in Utrecht. We entered on a boat and it was incredible to see the passionate supporters on each side of us. You don't get to notice it as much when you are busy racing your bike between them. This was something special. Le tour takes you through all the mythical places of cycling. We even got to race on the cobbles, and Tony won solo that day!

It's a shame we lost Tony due to his crash. It was a pleasure to work for him. It has also been an honor to work for Cav. It's not a problem for me to do this work for my teammates because we are really united. It's probably one of the best groups of riders we've had in terms of how cohesive we are. I share a room with Michal Kwiatkowski (Kwiato). We're two Polish guys together at this Tour. But with this team, the rooms are always open. We go from one room to another, there is no isolation or groups. It's really all together. So, it's quite nice. If you want privacy to talk to your wife or your family, all you have to do is just close your door for a few moments.

So far, despite the up-and-down emotions of this first week, we cannot complain.

It's been a really nice Tour de France. I also know a lot of people are following the team and I from my home country Poland. They are supporting us on TV, following us on social media, the website, and some are even at this race. I've received a lot of positive comments from people, in Poland and outside Poland, who really support our team and look for them. So, we will continue to try and do our best to represent all the support we have from the public. We will try to add a fourth win to our tally in the next days. That would really be icing on the cake!

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