July 20, 2008 – Austria is known for its mountains, ski stations, and lush green or snow-covered valleys. In the summer it is a great country for cycling and the Tour of Austria attracts all of the best riders in the world who are not competing at the Tour de France. This year, the peloton was exceptionally good as many top riders were preparing for the Olympics and wanted to ensure they could peak in form for the Games coming a month later.

The Tour of Austria quickly became an objective of mine when I found out I would not be racing in the Tour de France, as I knew my fitness was good. The race would also provide an ideal building block for the Olympic road race as the courses were hard and mountainous, the stages long, and the level of competition high. As the race was only a week long it would allow for a couple of weeks of time at home to do some specific training before I compete at the one day classic, San Sebastian, a week before the Games.

After starting in Italy we climbed into the Dolomites and then into Austria where we ascended many climbs known for their ski stations. With good fitness in the climbs I jumped into breakaways to go for a stage win and came very close as we rode up the Kitzbuhel Horn to the finish. The climb is rough 30 minutes long and is consistently between 12-15% – it’s relentless. I set out 140km from the finish with a breakaway companion, dropped him, and was caught by five of the leaders with less than two kilometers to go. I was pleased with the effort but annoyed I was caught so close to the end.

In the last two months my fitness has improved considerably. Small climbs which were tough on me in training a few months ago are now unnoticed and on the longer climbs I can find a smooth rhythm, climbing without fighting the gradient.

The team’s goal going into the race was to win a couple of stages and the sprint jersey as we had a solid team to lead-out our sprinter Andre Greipel. Dominating the front of the peloton and controlling it in the final kilometers we achieved both objectives. Team Columbia has won repeatedly through the season because of its sprinters and strong lead-out. The team has learned to ride together on the front for one purpose: to deliver the sprinter to victory. The sprinters have gained confidence in the domestiques and we continue to win weekly.

Now back at home in Girona, Spain my training is focused on San Sebastian and the Olympic Games. I have a few teammates and friends to train with that have similar objectives so we form a group, and ride for hours in the mountains, pushing each other, riding specific intervals and then sitting behind the motorbike to simulate the speed of the race. I have shorter training camps planned in the high Pyrenees to accumulate hours of climbing.

Until the end of the season my calendar is busy. Following the Olympics I will race in Italy for a week of one-day races, the Tour of Missouri, and the final races of the season in Italy, notably the Tour of Lombardy.

July 18, 2007 – At the start of the Tour of Austria I didn’t know what to expect. Several of the stage profiles were mountainous and I hadn’t raced up a hill for longer than 5km in months – not having great legs on an hour-long climb can be a shocking and scarring experience and I hoped one that I would not have to endure. My goal for the race was to be there for my teammates and in the breakaways with the hope of building my fitness for the future and locking in some stage wins with the team.

Our T-Mobile team went to the race with one of the best sprinters in the world – U23 World Champion Gerald Ciolek. Knowing he was the fastest in the peloton gave the team confidence that we could win a couple of stages and therefore we were committed to the front of the peloton to keep the race under control from the first kilometers of the first stage.

Riding at the front was ideal as I was able to get in a greater workload and being at the front was good for the team as it built our overall confidence – we could control the race at the front and win. At the end of the eight days of racing Ciolek won two stages, the points jersey, held the leader’s jersey for a day, and finished a close second on another stage.

Not only was the team evident in the sprints but also, despite the work we all had to do on the flatter stages, we were often in the breakaways, animating the race on the hillier days. I was content with how my legs turned over on the long alpine ascents and with each day gained more confidence and fitness. The peloton was not climbing slowly either as the leaders broke all the records for the big asccnts and race winner Devolder told me we were climbing faster than they had been at the ProTour’s Tour de Suisse.

The team now has a week-long camp in Germany before we all head off to the next events. It is the one chance we all have to get together – everyone is here except for the Tour riders. We can work with physios to get any kinks worked out while also testing our fitness in the lab and working closely with our trainers.

The Tour has been an interesting race so far as there is still not a clear favorite. Dozens of riders passed through the Alps still in contention for the overall and it is hard to rule out a comeback performance of anybody in the first twenty overall. The time trials and the Pyrenees are still to come and both with produce more significant time gaps among the best than the Alps did.

Many of my friends and teammates have ridden the Pyrenees stages and focused on them as they are clearly the more difficult of the race, and in the last week, as the peloton tires, they will be exponentially harder.

Right now, Contador looks to be one of the most comfortable and consistent in the group but I wouldn’t be surprised to see an amazing come back from Vino and Kloden in the next week.