Hayden Roulston - Not surprised but disappointed

Roulston in the recent Criterium du Dauphine ©Graham Watson

Jun 19th, 12. It was a disappointing day for Hayden Roulston who learned he had not made the RadioShack Nissan Trek Tour de France team.

The 2011 NZ National Champion shared his insight into the Tour, his training and his Olympic chances on his website and kindly gave permission for RoadCycling.co.nz to republish his post.

Roulston on the Tour de France

Well the news is now out regarding the Tour de France and unfortunately for me, I missed the cut.

Am I surprised? No. Disappointed? Yes.

I was good at Criterium du Dauphine but far from super. I was definitely improving everyday but when you have a team as strong as ours it just wasn't enough.

Illness a setback

Missing Bayern Rundfhart really set me back. I needed that race to get the body back into the swing of things but I was sick so couldn't go.

I can only blame myself here though.. you don't just get 'sick'. You get sick by not looking after yourself properly - with the right recovery, rest and having a good head, even if you don't feel super out training.. maybe I neglected some of these and that's why I got sick in the first place.. I'm still learning as I weave my way through my career and will remember this for the future!

Selections well deserved

When you look at our team that has been named, each rider going deserves to be going more than me. Of course I'm a bit disappointed but I knew it was never going to be easy. (Read announcement here ...)

Some very good riders have been left behind from our team and one I really feel sorry for is Markel [Irizar]. Man does this guy have a story.

He overcame cancer when he was 20, wasted no time getting back on his bike, at 22 he was pro and now he is with our team. I was with him on training camp, and he is a super nice guy.

If one guy should be disappointed it should be him, he is very very strong at the moment, and I felt he deserved to go. That's just the way it is, and you have to respect the decisions. Jakob Fulgang, Linus Gerdeman and Gregory Rast were also left behind - some very good riders, so I'm not alone!

Roulston turns to plan B ©Graham Watson

Plan B

I've just got back from a training camp in the Pyrenees. Man it was so hard! Ok so I was with some good climbers but just the terrain itself was so unforgiving with barely any flat roads.

Now its on to plan B. Plan B is the Tour of Poland which starts mid July, then hopefully I will get to ride the Olympics too.

Half the Olympic contenders are going to the Tour de France, the other half are going to the Tour of Poland so it's not all bad.

I hope to be selected for the games, and should I be selected I am going to be ready for what is going to be one very hard race.

Tour picks

Everyone has said that it is a Tour for Wiggans but after seeing some of the stages the last four days I am not totally convinced it will be all plain sailing for him.

Evans has the edge of having won the race before. Wiggans is going to take time in the time trials, there's no point saying he won't, but this is the Tour de France.

All the freaks come out to play for three weeks in July and it won't just be won by winning time trials - one bad day in the Pyrenees will cost you hugely.

Pyrenees the critical stages

What we saw in the training camp was two tough days back to back which will be vital for the GC. The stage into Luchon, which goes over the Tourmalet, and the stage the next day which finishes on the Peyregudes climb - these two days are HARD!

In training it was a 6hr day, and a 5.5hr day. The race itself will be quicker for sure, but in the Pyrenees there is barely any flat, it's up one climb, down, then back up. The Alps have more valleys so everyone gets a breather. It's going to be an awesome race to watch that's for sure.

RadioShack Nissan Trek
Our team is pretty strong on all fronts - we have Frank Schleck who is going very well, we have Fabian Cancellara who should dominate the time trials and with any luck win the prologue and take the first yellow jersey too.

We have the dark horse Andreas Kloden who I feel will have a super tour. He hasn't had any results just lately but used all the races to build his form and he will be very strong throughout the whole of July.

Jens Voigt needs no introduction, he will be seen for sure! Young Tony Gallopin is going this year, and he has had a very strong season to date so he will be good at some stage too. I'm not too sure what the team's goals will be from the start, a lot will be played out on the road but all in all we have a strong team that will get results in this years Tour de France.

Next up...
Right now for me I'm going to have a breather, recover for a few days and then start planning on peaking for the Tour of Poland and then hopefully the Olympics.

I've got a special relationship with the Olympic Games as you all know, and as a Kiwi, the Olympics are a very big deal, so every detail from now until then will be taken care of so I'm ready!

After the games I will be doing the Eneco Tour, then Poitou Charante, then maybe the teams time trial and the road race at the UCI World Championships. After this I think I won't be far off heading home before I leave to go to China for the last two races of the season.

The year has gone very fast and I want to finish the last half of the year really strong..

Thanks for the support I get, I really appreciate it..

Roly

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