The ride in Malaysia had put my confidence to a new level, and as I headed to Portugal for the Volta ao Alentejo at the end of March. The first stage was hilly, suiting me down to the tee, and the final stage finished uphill, so again, I had a good chance at going for glory. On the team bus before Stage One, I just asked the guys to trust me like they had done in Malaysia. If they put their faith in me, I would make sure that their effort would be repaid.

The response from everyone of them was phenomenal. As the day's break of three went, Sam Horgan and Tommy Nankervis headed to the front, and kept the break in check. Michael Cupitt sat by my side protecting me from the wind, whilst Blair Windsor kept me well stocked with bottles.

Reaching the final climbs of the day, the break was still clear, but that didn't change the gameplan. Over the top of the KoM sprint, I attacked hard, opening a small gap on my rivals. On the descent, I caught two thirds of the breakaway, and up towards the summit at Marvão, I caught the final man, passing him in the final 200 metres. The victory was all mine! My first professional victory and wow, it was worth it!

The rest of the race about protecting the Leader's Jersey - sadly that only lasted one stage. Despite hard work from the team, a combination of yesterday's efforts and the lack of help from other teams meant the break on Stage Two would take the glory, and I lost Yellow by 4 seconds to Hugo Sancho (LA-Alumínios). Not to worry though. Stage Three saw a victory for Michael Vink, who stole away at the end to take the sprinter's limelight, before Paul Bauhaus (Stölting) took the Bunch Sprint Victory on Stage Four.

I knew the Stage Five, with the short sharp climb sprint to the line could be key if I wanted to take the GC victory away from Sancho. The team, just like on Stage One, rallied around me, and controlled the entire stage. Approaching the last 3km, with Culpitt protecting me from the wind, I hit the front hard. At the base of the climb, I jumped from the saddle, and felt a small gap open.

Ten metres, fifteen metres, twenty-five metres... It was getting bigger as the line came into view. I took my second victory of the race, the 10 second bonus on the line, as was even given a 8 second gap to those behind. I had my biggest victory to date as a cyclist - the Volta ao Alentejo would never be forgotten!

My first Professional wins, followed by the GC victory, was just wanted a needed to give me a boast as headed towards the end of April and a busy May period. The only issue was my position as Luxury Team-Mate and not the outright leader in the team.

At the Circuit des Ardennes, I would ride in support of Thimothy Roe and Michael Cupitt, who were both targeting a high finish on a the difficult hilly circuit. I tried to put my case across to ride in a free role, given my current form, but my duties were required to the Team Leaders.

The French Race went without any drama, but sadly, the team performance was way below par. Roe suffered a bad crash two-thirds into the race, and when race hit the key stages, Cupitt missed the final cut. Julien Simon took a strong solo victory, as Cupitt crossed the line in 14th place, with me by his side.

From France, we travelled up to Denmark for the GP Herning. Strong winds blew across the course, and I struggled from the first turn of the wheel. I was back on bottle collecting duties, and every turn going to the front was like the worse kind of hell.

I was dropped out the back when the race reached its climax. Shane Archibold (AnPost) attacked with 5km to go, and despite a late charge from Michael Vink and Sam Witmitz, he couldn't be caught. Our guys would have to settle for 2nd and 3rd, as I finished 86th over 7 minutes down.

the_hoyle wrote:
I come to everyone who has followed the story with bad news - the story is coming to a premature end. For reasons similar to Ian with his Breakaway Specialist story, I am not enjoying playing PCM14, loading times are up to 10 minutes just for a basic stage, and to play with any sort of level of graphics makes the gameplay very laggy.

Thanks for following, and special thanks to tsmoha for the use of his NRS jerseys and db to build the story.