World time trial champion Amber Neben will line up in her rainbow jersey at the USA Cycling Professional National Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday, aiming to add a second special jersey to her collection with the stars and stripes. But after a limited season and some experimentation with her training, the 42-year-old is looking at the race as a secondary goal to her Worlds title defence.
"I always come in with the same expectation, and that's to win. That's no different," Neben tells Cyclingnews. "My confidence is in my faith. I'll do my best out there and we'll see what happens."
Neben won the rainbow jersey in Qatar by just five seconds in a tight race over Ellen van Dijk and Katrin Garfoot. She knows that she will have to eke out every last watt she can find to have a chance of making the medals this year, so she's changed up her formerly tried-and-true training plan. She admits it has "made things a bit less predictable".
ADVERTISEMENT
Although she won the 11km opening stage at Redlands in early May by 18 seconds, when it came to a longer test in the Chrono Gatineau, she was off the pace of compatriot Lauren Stephens by 11 seconds. Neben anticipates a close race in Knoxville and whether or not she prevails depends on how she's absorbed the new training scheme.
"With risk comes reward, we'll see if we get that reward. Mentally I'm ready, but physically it is to be determined to see how my body responds," Neben says. "I'm on really fast equipment and have dialled in the aerodynamics. As a time trialist, you find a sweet spot on the bike. When you change equipment you're always searching for that sweet spot. I'm not sure I've found it, but I'm closer. We'll probably go back in the wind tunnel after nationals to see if we can fine tune it a little more. It's a good place to test, so I'm excited about the weekend."
Neben has been racing for almost 20 years and says that finding that competitive edge gets harder and harder every year. "For someone who's been going for so long, it's difficult to challenge your endurance engine, to create overload and get adaptation. At this point, you're getting hit with a hammer pretty hard to get back to this level."
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2t4tzHd
No comments:
Post a Comment