After years of competing against Mark Cavendish, Tyler Farrar is preparing to do quite the opposite next season and will become part of the Manxman’s lead-out train. Farrar, who has been with the MTN-Qhubeka (to be known as Dimension Data in 2016) for the past season, tells Cyclingnews that he is looking forward to beginning a new part of his career and helping his former sprint rival.
“It will certainly be different,” he told Cyclingnews at the team’s training camp in South Africa. “I was riding along with Eisel today and I said to him ‘would you ever have thought five or six years ago that we would be teammates?’ It will be a different chapter in my career but it will be really fun to be a part of the lead-out train that we’re going to put together and I’m excited.”
Farrar and Cavendish stepped into the professional peloton around the same time, with the American making the move in 2006 and Cavendish following a year later. They often clashed in sprints and afterwards because both were competitive and out to win the high-speed sprints. Farrar was probably at the peak of his powers between 2009 and 2011 when he took six stage victories in the three Grand Tours. His win rate has decreased in recent years with 2015 the first time that he’s ended the season without a victory since his debut nine years ago. The 31-year-old admits that it would have been difficult for him to work with Cavendish at the peak of his career.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Had this happened four or five years ago it would have been a whole different vibe coming together,” admitted Farrar. “I’ve certainly tapered off in the last few years in terms of winning. I still pull a victory out here and there, but I haven’t won with any consistency in a while but Cav has been right there for a long time. In the world of cycling, it is all about victories and you’re not going to support a sprinter to go for third place, you’re going to support a sprinter to go and win. That is how it works. I’m really excited to be a part of probably the best lead-out train in the world next year.”
Mentoring the young riders, Qatar World Championships a major goal
Farrar appears to have settled well into this new position in the African team and seems happy to have moved away from the role as a lead sprinter. In return, the team are happy with how he’s been performing - despite the lack of victories - and extended his contract into 2016. As well as his new career as a lead-out man, Farrar is targeting a few of his own objectives while he enjoys playing guide to the younger riders within the team.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1jm1z8W
No comments:
Post a Comment