This is the block I have been thinking and dreaming about since crossing the finish line at the London Olympics last year. It feels similar to the run up to the Games, in so much as it has always seemed so far away and then all of a sudden it’s upon us.

I’m really looking forward to this block of racing. They are the races you dream of competing in as a kid, so to be competing in them, in one of the strongest teams there is, and looking to get a result, is simply awesome!

The start of the season has been great so far with a stage win in Australia. It’s the first time I’ve fully committed to the road and I’ve not had one thought about the track, which is refreshing in many ways.

My training’s been going well.  We’ve had plenty of training camps, Australia, Mallorca and Tenerife and I’ve spent 7 nights in my own bed in Cardiff since Boxing day. Hopefully, as a team, we can make all those hard yards worthwhile and come out of the classics with a result or two! After only 3 months of committed training I feel a lot stronger than before.  

Interestingly, the thing with the classics is you can be in the best shape but if you’re not in the right place at the right time, or you get a puncture or crash, it can all be over. That’s what makes these races so special. Unlike stage racing, you just have the one chance, then it’s over for another year.

I guess what I’m saying is you have to make the moment count….and that’s exactly what sport at this level is all about.

You can vote here… 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/wales/20546409

Last Monday was i guess the official ending of the Games, the Olympic Homecoming, it was incredible to see so many people come out to show their support. It’s hard to believe how much it meant to everybody and how happy it makes them feel!! We athletes get wrapped up in our own little worlds and think its only us and our friends and family that want us to do well, but to see the effect the Games has had on the general public is nuts. 
I definitely want to say a massive thanks to everybody that has supported me along the way it really means a lot!!!

Onto the here and now, and the biggest news I guess at the minute is that I’m not riding the road worlds. I decided to make myself ‘unavailable’ for the road worlds this year for a number of reasons. Mainly being that I am not at my best on the road at the minute. My whole year has been about a 4km or 3:50odd minute effort. So to suddenly switch to 260km in a couple of months would have been a big ask. I probably could have, if I’d got straight ‘on it’ after the Games. But I didn’t want to. That was what my whole year was about. There was so much pressure, build up and expectation, I needed to go and enjoy it! I wasn’t going to watch my diet and ride my bike 4/5hrs everyday…

It’s not like I’ve gone AWOL though, I had 2 weeks of ‘downtime’ but was soon back back racing. I’ve done Vattenfall in Germany, Tour of Denmark and 2 races in Canada. I am now in Holland for the Team TT this weekend. I’m looking forward to the race, it is going to be unbelievably hard but will hopefully be good fun at the same time.

The TTT is a lot more suited to me than the road race… I didn’t want to start the road race knowing I would probably get dropped and not finish… I could have still done a decent job for whoever the leader is but at the end of the day the worlds are one of the biggest races on the calendar, I only want to go there when I’m at my best.

I still have a bit of racing to get through before my season finishes though… Franco Belge, Paris Bourges and Paris Tours on Oct 7th. Then I’m off on holiday for a much needed break!!

It was very saddening to wake up to the news about the whole Lance Armstrong saga on Saturday morning.

Not just because of Lance but because of the damage it will, well, has been, causing to the sport I love. It has been going on for years, and every time it comes up, it drags cycling back down the 10 steps it has just risen.

My Twitter feed was full of the story, as you can imagine, with some people already “trash talking” cycling.

Read the rest of my blog for or the BBC here: …http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19386735

G.

 Geraint took a strong second place in the stage five time trial at Post Danmark Rundt while Team Sky placed two riders in the top 10 overall.

Having led the way for most of the evening G had to settle for second place, 19 seconds back on Liewe Westra, the man that ran Bradley Wiggins so close at Paris-Nice.

The result stil marked an impressive return to the road for Geraint following his gold medal-winning performance in the team pursuit at the Olympics.

The stage saw a mumber of impressive performances from the team including a battling ride from Lars-Peter Nordhaug in the yellow jersey.

Early on it was Geraint who set a strong benchmark, rammed home with an impressive finish to the course following an opening split which wasn’t among the top ten times.

After the stage Sports Director Servais Knaven hailed the progress of a number of riders who are returnng to form including Geraint.

“It was a strong ride from G”, he said. “There was no doubt who was the best today as Westra was 19 seconds faster but G was really impressive. You can see how much he has improved over the last couple of days after coming from the track. He was surprised himself that he ia already at this level. And it’s the same for Pete he’s geting stronger too.” 

“It was not an ideal course for Lars-Petter being almost flat and very few corners. He can be very pleased with his performance when you look at the time. He gave everything and he was really fast through he first intermediate. He was even faster than G through 4k but it was at the end where he lost the time.”

Knaven also summed up the morning’s stage, adding: “This morning Cav was in a really good position but he was edged towards the barriers and had to break. So that was a pity but tomorrow there should be another chance for a sprint and we are motivated to do everything we can there.”

The race concludes on Sunday with a flat final stage which sees the riders tackle 165km from Slagelse to Frederiksberg.

 Courtesy of Team Sky.

Well today was the longest time I’ve spent on the bike since the penultimate day of the Giro at the end of May, and I definitely felt it!! It was a long, hot day at the Vattenfall Classic. The 2 weeks after the Olympics haven’t exactly been the most focused on my bike riding so that didn’t really help. I don’t regret making the most of those 2 weeks off the bike. There was a lot of tension and build up to the Games so it was good to enjoy the down time.

I did about 200 of the 245km of the race today. It was a decent day considering what I’ve been doing and a good start to the final part of the season. I am next off to the Tour of Denmark, where I’ll hopefully find my ‘road legs’ by the end of the week… I’m looking forward to it though! It was great to be back on the Team Sky bus with the boys and back into road racing again.

Keep checking my website for all my latest news and results.

G

Great Britain’s men team pursuit quartet claimed gold with a stunning world record ride before describing the gruelling journey they had been on to triumph in front of a elated Olympic velodrome.

The quartet smashed their own world record with a time of 3:51.659 to secure gold and successfully defend the title Great Britain won in Beijing four years ago.  The winning margin was nearly three seconds faster than silver medallists Australia and compounded the dominance they had shown by going quickest in both qualifying and round one of the competition.

Geraint Thomas, who along with Ed Clancy was a survivor of the team which triumphed in Beijing, admitted it had been a long road since the 2011 European Track Championships last October and paid tribute to his fellow teammates.

“In November we were in the track at 7.30 in the morning, they stopped us going to a Rihanna concert in November,” 26-year-old Thomas said. “They have been on our backs since then. It has been full on. To finish it off it is amazing. I was ill last week and it was tough mentally to get back to where I was but without these boys I couldn’t have done it.

“To finish it off is amazing. I was ill last week and mentally it’s been very hard trying to get back to where I was. Without these boys I couldn’t have done it. They were super. The crowd is unbelievable. My ears are ringing. It’s too loud.

“It’s unbelievable, I sacrificed a lot on the road this year. The unity of the team, I would miss the Tour any day to feel like that again, the crowd were just immense.”

Ed Clancy, who propelled the team off with a rapid opening lap, described the emotion of four years of work coming to fruition.

“I can’t explain it, we had good vibes in the Newport training camp three of four weeks ago and we were talking about time we thought we could do and then G got a bit of food poisoning and we took a step backwards.  We just spent so many years thinking about this moment and when it happened it was just a mad explosion of emotion.”

Peter Kennaugh, who was picking up his first gold medal in his first Olympic Games, added: “It is amazing. It is a team event but we have to take our hats off to Ed Clancy and Steven Burke, they rode amazing.”

 Courtesy of British Cycling.

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A special thank you to Welsh Cycling , Rebecca and Mal Ransom and Seren PR.

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