The Tour of the Algarve was my first proffessional experience, riding for the Cofidis team. It was an amazing experience and I am delighted to have started my professional career against the beautiful backdrop of Southern Portugal. I was delighted to even be on the startlist, but my main goal was the time trial stage, where I hoped for a good result.

Despite it being my first race I wasted no time on getting started with some serious racing. I managed to get in some great ridea, including a last minute attack. Despite the lack of an end result, I was delighted with the race. It was incredible to be able to compete with some strong riders in my first race as a pro, and to get so close was an exhilarating experience. The team boss was very encouraging and happy, which only enforced my enthusiasm about this team.

Unfortunately, due to a failure of the race organisers, the race had to be restarted. This time things did not go as well for me. I was already tired and demoralised from 3 pointless days of racing. To make matters worse I picked up a small knock before the time trial that meant I only managed 26th place.

After the restart my time in Portugal was disappointing. I feel as if I let the team down, but more than that I am frustrated. I really enjoyed my debut in the Algarve, so it was disappointing that due to the errors made by others that was all for nothing. The team manager told me this was just part of cycling and I need to learn from the experience.

My second race of the season took place on Corsica. Again, I was targeting the time trial, but I was there as part of a team, so I was willing to do anything to help Cofidis do well. Corsica is a beautiful place, and I was fortunate for my first two races to be in such scenic locations. There's time to enjoy the scenery after though, so I was 100% focused from day one.

Stage one was flat and uneventful. Personally I was more concerned with saving my energy for the time trial. I completed the 7km course in 10:43, which was good enough for 9th. Normally I am strongest at short time trials, but this time there was a lot of tough opposition. All things considered, 9th is a very strong result.

The final stage was into the mountains. For the Cofidis team it was all about controlling the pace. In the end the team excelled itself. We achieved a 3rd and 7th place overall within the team, which was a great thing to be a part of. 9th was my first official top 10 result, which was a brilliant experience, but naturally now I need to work hard to turn that into an even better result.