Feb 6th, 10. RoadCycling.co.nz talks to Jesse Sergent who makes his 2010 international season debut tomorrow.  He's racing the UCI2.1 Tour of Qatar with Trek Livestrong.

Jesse Sergent will be racing with Trek LiveStrong at the Tour of Qatar ©RoadCycling.co.nz

Trek Livestrong presented by RadioShack will be lining up against the top pro-tour teams in this tour and in the Tour of Oman, a new event for 2010, two days later.

Sergent told RoadCycling.co.nz these tours are the biggest races his U23 development team are doing this year and they don't know what to expect in terms of their competitiveness against the world's best riders.  

What Sergent does expect is to learn a lot about pro-racing in the next two weeks.

"I want to learn off the big guys and how they race the crosswinds. It's not going to be easy but I'm looking forward to the experience," Sergent said about his own expectations.

Sergent is in his second and last year in Trek Livestrong, his age will make him ineligible for the 2011 season.  The Kiwi rider is looking to perform well enough this season to get the nod from Team Director Axel Merckx to follow Sam Bewley into RadioShack.

RadioShack's Team Director John Bruyneel recently told RoadCycling.co.nz he will be following Sergent's season closely.

"Hopefully he is the next guy who can make the change to the professional team at the end of this year or beginning of next year. We will be following him this year, and hopefully he gets a chance," Bruyneel said.

Sergent in time trial mode ©RoadCycling.co.nz

Sunday's opening race of the Tour of Qatar is a 8.2km team time trial (TTT) which Sergent says the team has been working towards as  a key goal.  

With both Sergent and Taylor Phinney's track pursuit skills on the Trek Livestrong line-up the young team will be looking to make up in speed what they lack in experience.

"The team is looking forward to the TTT.  We have been doing a few TTT efforts in training and it is a goal of ours as it is a distance and course that suits us and we are all ready to put it all on the line," said Sergent.

Unfortunately for Sergent, these tours co-incide with the New Zealand Track Nationals and he won't be in Invercargill next week to defend his individual pursuit title. 

"It's always a shame to miss a National Champs, but to get an opportunity to race the Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman for me is huge and I am happy to be over here racing," he said.

"Also, it's a different build up to the World Champs compared to last year and at the moment I think it's good to try different things and see what works and what doesn't, so it gives me the chance to change my build-up and see how things go."

After the finish of the second tour on February 19th Sergent is heading back home to Fielding for a few days before joining the rest of the New Zealand track team in Invercargill for final preparations for the UCI Track World Championships in March.

"I'm looking forward to training and hanging out with the all the track team again in March, it's always good times!" he said.

Between now and then Sergent is enjoying all the new experiences these tours in the Persian Gulf provide.  

"The hotel we are staying in is amazing - like no other race hotel I've stayed at. The food is so good....breakfast the other day was too good, just anything and everything was there."

"It's so nice and relaxing in the hotel but I have a feeling it's going to be the opposite out there on the roads in a couple of days, but then at least we have nice beds and good food to come back to!" said Sergent.

The Tour of Qatar runs from 7th-12th February and the Tour of Oman the 14th-19th February. 

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