Not everyone agreed with the decision to send me to Kenya.
I wanted to prove them wrong. Who says TT guys can't climb?
I held my own at the Tirreno - Adriatico when I won my first stage.

I considered myself more of a diesel type of climber.
All the stop-and-start action tended to mess up my rhythm.
So I made a deal with teammate Hyland before the race. Don't attack.



A constant tempo the whole way up and I was going to stay on his wheel.
That was the plan at least. When the attacks start to go with 15kms left,
I could tell Hyland was resisting his urge to follow after them on his own.



Hagen, winner of the San Marino Classic, broke away from the pack.
I kept telling Hyland to slow increase our speed and not to leave me behind.
We weren't going to catch Hagen, but a good result was on the cards.



Hagen was gone. He had a fantastic 2036 season for the new Telenor team.
The battle for second place was over two and half minutes behind him.



And Hyland and I were in it. Kind of, we were present at least.
We slowly but surely climbed back up to the second group.
Hyland finished 6th and I took 7th. The tactic paid off.

Well, Hyland might have disagreed. He was quite strong that day.
Perhaps a top 3 could have been his, but I'm glad he stayed by my side.
I made sure to repay him later in his career. You helped me, I helped you.