Читать книгу My World онлайн

71 страница из 72

We decided that the classics would be too much. Maybe, say, Paris–Roubaix, or Flanders, but to do the whole period together would be too intense. The same thing goes for the Tour de France. A stage here or there is fun and something to look forward to in the middle of the madness of the Tour, but you get dragged into the routine grind if you do it all the time, and that’s no good for either of us.

There’s also the team and my teammates to think of. Togetherness is important in any team in any sport. At some point, you’ll need to rely on each other, and the unique pro-cycling system of first among equals will be put to the test. There wasn’t room on the Tour, for instance, for nine riders to bring their families along for the ride, let alone the directors’, mechanics’, and soigneurs’ families. Plus, much of the communication and planning at big races takes place when you sit around the breakfast table or dinner table. Big team training camps were not ideal places for us to go together for those reasons, too.