Luke Roberts - Offical website of pro cyclist and olympic gold medallist Luke Roberts

Finally again the taste of success! A stage victory in the 3 Lander Tour was the first time I’ve popped a bottle of champagne for almost 2 Years. During the recent races I’d adopted a workers role, in helping Jens Voigt and Martin Pedersen to overall victories in Tour of Germany and Tour of Britain. The riders at 3 Lander Tour (Hessen Rundfahrt) were there to prepare for the World Championships and we all had a ‘free pass’ to ride the race how we wished. After losing time and chances of overall victory in the first stage I went on the attack in a 13 man breakaway in Stage 4, narrowed down to only four riders in the last few kilometres, I had the legs to cover all the attacks and then take the sprint into Wiesbaden. It was great to finally throw the arms in the air again.

I had hoped to be selected for the Vuelta Espana and World Championships, unfortunately it wasn’t to be, so the end of the season has had it’s ups and downs. I plan to continue on to Paris Tours and possibly get back on the track for some 6 Days before I park the bike away for a break.

Til next time,

Luke.

After a bit of a struggle through the first part of the season, the warmer weather has helped me find some good form and finally put a score on the board. I set a goal of achieving a good result at Bayern Rundfahrt, a prestigious race in Germany that I’d ridden twice before.

The first three days went well for the team, we had four riders all within reach of the overall lead coming into the fourth stage time trial. I had kept relatively quiet in the first three stages, saving my energy ready for the time trial, unfortunately my ride wasn’t as good as I’d hoped and afterwards found myself in 8^th place overall, 1min 28sec behind the leader.

I wasn’t satisfied with this and decided to go on the attack in the final stage, with a small break away group sitting just off the front of the peloton on the final climb, team mate Kurt Arvesen and myself made a move to jump across to it. It then became a battle for seconds over the final 50km between us and the leaders team chasing in the peloton, at some stages our lead opened up to almost two minutes which put me in virtual lead of the Tour. When we crossed the line I came up just 19seconds short of the Tour victory, but taking 3^rd place in the stage and 3^rd in the overall classification I was definitely satisfied.

With a very heavy end of season program ahead of me, I’ll take some time out from racing, enjoy watching the Tour on TV and cheer the Aussies on in the soccer World Cup.

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

Luke.

I almost have the feeling I’ve spent as much time on planes lately as I have on the bike, leaving Australia to travel to the Team’s first training camp in Italy, from there to the Tour of Qatar, a couple of days back in Germany and I was again headed around the world to a training camp in California. It has had its advantages though, searching for the good weather has given me the chance to put in a solid pre-season of training.

My time back in Australia was, as always, enjoyable to catch up with family and friends. I took a slow steady start to my training for this season and I believe I’ll really benefit from the base I’ve built up. The National Championships was to be a good little test of form and a chance to see where I was at before heading to Europe. I was quite happy with my ride in the Time Trial and 2^nd place showed my fitness level was on track, unfortunately luck eluded me in the Road Race and a huge crash involving the majority of the peloton spelt the end for me after only 4km, a disappointing way to end but I guess that’s cycling.

After another tester in Qatar I felt I was riding strong, the Team didn’t manage to match the incredible result from last year there, but in general we were all in good shape.

Now in a small Danish settled village called Solvang in California to put on some finishing touches to the pre-season and I’ll be ready to head over to Belgium for the spring races.

Until next time,

Luke.

Once again I find myself back in Australia, taking a break and looking back on the past season. The highlights would have to be Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and of course the Tour de France, I really look forward to lining up in those races again for another crack at them.

Although feeling tired and struggling for motivation after the Tour this year, I was in good shape and picked up a number of top ten placings during the last part of the season. Deutschland Tour had its ups and downs.. quite literally! There were some huge mountain passes that were tougher than those in the Tour de France, along with terrible weather during the race made it a real fight just to get through. Otherwise it was a nice race and I had some fun with the bunch sprints, picking up 4^th in the final stage.

One of the strangest races I have ever ridden was the Barclay’s Grand Prix in San Francisco early in September. A circuit race of the city, which had two climbs that looked like walls as we approached them, the bunch would roll around the circuit easily, everyone just recovering and saving energy to sprint up these hills, which were so steep we were only doing walking pace! Luckily I had good legs on the day and could fight it out up the front eventually finishing in 8^th, but definitely a fun race and a great weekend there.

I really enjoyed this year riding with CSC and I’m happy to say that I’ve signed for another two years with the Team. For now though the sun is shining here in Aus and it’s time for an ice cold Coopers Pale Ale.

Cheers,

Luke.

The saying ‘getting thrown in at the deep end’ certainly comes to mind when I think of my experiences from the Tour de France. In my first year with a big pro team, first time at the Tour de France, then on the very first stage found myself riding on the front of the peloton to defend the yellow jersey! The first few days I was running on pure adrenaline, to be a part of the team riding on the front with Dave in tow as leader of the race gave me goose bumps.

On day 4 I was bought back to earth with a thump, leading the Team Time Trial at every time check, then just 1.5kms before the finish Dave hit a bump in the road, lost control and crashed. The jersey was lost and a chance at the stage win along with it.

It was disappointing to lose the jersey in that way, but together we fought on and wanted to win it back, especially Jens. He made endless attacks trying to get in a break away, literally riding himself into the ground until he finally succeeded and took the jersey. Just as fast as the morale in the team was sky high again it came crashing down, Jens became ill and not only lost the leaders jersey but had to stop the race. It was very hard to see such a fighter like Jens have to leave in that way, probably the low point of the tour for me.

I’m the first to admit I’m no mountain climber, so the Alps and the Pyrenees would just be a matter of surviving, and when I could, save some energy for the last week. I got through it pretty good, suffered a couple of days and some days were actually enjoyable.

Ivan on the other hand was tearing up the front of race, it was great to sit back at night to watch the highlights on TV, then see the damage my team mate had been doing all day.

Into the last week I was still feeling alright and had good legs, I tried everything for 2 days to get away in a break away group, unsuccessfully. Stage 18’s hilltop finish wasn’t going to suit me at all so I didn’t push too hard to make the break, but somehow found myself in there. Surrounded by several top climbers my chances for the stage win were pretty slim, so at the end of the day I had to be happy with 7^th. I had another good go in the final Time Trial and was cool to be sitting on top of the leader board while I watched the big guys come in TV.

The final day was miserable weather and I thought to myself “This is not how it’s supposed to be, riding into Paris on the final day of the Tour de France, should be beautiful sunshine and crowds of people lining the roads cheering” then a crash just topped it off. Once we arrived on the Champs Elysees, there were thousands of people, the weather cleared up and it was just how I imagined it, UNBELIEVABLE!

Now that the first stage of the season, the Spring Classics is over, I can say there were two days of the last month that I’ll never forget. Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix. I’ve always loved to watch both races on TV, but to be out there amongst it was a bigger thrill than I’d imagined.

Over the last few years I raced a lot in Belgium, so I knew what some of the Flemish hills were like, I always enjoyed racing there and Tour of Flanders was a race I really wanted to do. There were huge crowds over the whole course, especially on the nasty cobblestone climbs, at the start there were so many people I felt like a rock star at a concert when I was up on the stage to sign on. The race went ok for me apart from a ‘shitty’ crash around half way, there was a fall in front of me that I couldn’t avoid, I ended up diving off the edge of the road and landed in a ditch that had ‘excess fertilizer’ flowing through it, when I climbed back out I was covered in it and didn’t smell too fresh, nobody got too close to me after that! I lost contact with the front group on the Valkenberg 30km to go, I’ll definitely be back to that race for another crack at it.

Next came Paris Roubaix, a lot of special equipment is needed to deal with the cobblestones there. Team CSC’s weapons of choice were gel pads and thick gel tape on the handlebars, big 27mm tyres on extra strong wheels, our Cervelo carbon bikes were specially made to give a softer ride, and then also a Speedplay pedal that wouldn’t block up if I stepped in mud (very handy as I had to run through a field when a crash blocked the road). I heard Paris Roubaix is a race you would either love it or hate it after the first time, when we came to the first section of stones I could see the guys who loved the race, they were fighting like animals, desperate to be at the front when we hit the cobbles, and it went on before every section, I’ve never experienced anything like it. The peloton broke up into several groups on each section and often the last groups would never see the front again, after 220km I was dropped off with a group, then rode the last hour into the finish kicking myself that I didn’t fight harder to be at the front, I’ll know it for next time!

The original plan was that I would then prepare for the Giro d’Italia, I used Tour of Romandie as a training race to be ready for it, that went quite well with 7^th in a stage and not far off the pace in the time trial stages. It was undecided whether or not I would ride the Giro up to the end of Romandie. The final verdict was a change of plan, to take a short break, relax and then build up my fitness to be ready for the Tour de France. The goal is now set and I’ll be working hard that when the final team is selected for the Tour that my name is on the list.

The new season is now underway, unfortunately I haven't had the start I was hoping for, being held back with injury problems from the first race. Team CSC kicked off with a 10 day training camp in Tuscany, I always love going to Italy, there's something special about it, the history, the relaxed lifestyle, Italianfood is also my favourite, but it's just so much better in Italy. The hotel was an old place in a small town on top of a nasty little hill, that made for a tough end to each days ride. We worked in 3 day blocks of hard training then took one rest day, I won't give away too many secrets but the hard days involved alot of specific intervals working on a set power output using an SRM computer, we all did a test on Monte Sera, a 6km climb to determine our training levels. I found the interval training very interesting, it was similar to what I've done on the track before, just more specific for road racing, Bjarne has some good ideas about training and I think I'll really benefit from learning these. I travelled directly from the training camp to Qatar for my first race, then right from Stage 1 I knew I was in trouble, I had a pain in my hip as though it was overstretched and almost dislocated, I could only pedal hard for a few minutes then the pain would become so strong I'd have to stand up on the bike and stretch to try to release it. So I spent most of Tour of Qatar hiding in the peloton, stretching for hours each day, receiving physio treatment and just getting frustrated. The problem had started because of the new bike and new shoes, something was set up not quite right, it was only a matter of a few millimetres somewhere but it was hard to put a finger on exactly what it was. Each day I tried small adjustments and it took until the last day of the tour until it started feeling better. Although disappointed with my own race, my team mates had ridden a great race there, sticking together through the crosswinds and sweeping the top 3 on the podium, I was happy my hip was feeling better and was able to ride for the guys on the last day. After a few days rest and some more frequent flyer miles I was in San Remo ready to start the Tour of Mediterranean, the rest had allowed my hip to recover to almost 100% again. CSC had a good team lining up for the race and were determined to win it, the entire team rode at the front and we took control of the race from the first stage. I guess Jens decided if we were going to ride on the front it would be nice to also have the yellow jersey, he was incredibly strong that day attacking in the final km's to win the stage and take the tour lead. The next couple of days were straight out of the yellow jersey textbook for us, we let a small group of riders go away then just controlled the tempo of the peloton. On Day 4 came the Team Time Trial, over 36km it was going to be an important and deciding factor of the overall Tour, we were out to win this one. I thought we'd started on a pretty good tempo, but at half way Bjarne told us over the radio we were 10sec behind, then the boys really stepped it up a notch, there was no way we were going to lose and by the finish line we'd ridden the fastest time by 16sec, my first victory with CSC. The last day was again well controlled and Jens took the overall Tour victory. Since then the weather has turned against us cyclists, if I was a cross country skier it's be fantastic! It's not much fun going out training in -3 degrees, although I had to laugh one day when I tried to take a drink from my water bottle but it was frozen solid! I was scheduled to race 3 Days of West Flanders but 80km into the first stage a huge snow storm came in and the entire race had to be cancelled, there has been a few races over Europe that have had to be cancelled or shortened because of the weather, I can only hope it improves soon. Until next time, Luke.

I honestly thought I was prepared to expect the worst.. I am still scarred by what we were put through during the survival trip! The majority of the week at the Team Building Camp was spent in a conference room, where we were introduced to Team CSC, their philosophy and values; all official business and procedures were explained so that we wouldn't be stuck asking questions during the season. There was a presentation from each of the sponsors of Team CSC. I've got to admit there won't be any complaints coming from me about equipment, from the Cervelo bikes and Zipp wheels, through to the Smith sunglasses, the team's certainly being looked after with top line toys.

Some activities like bowling and a pool party, made for a lot of fun while giving us time to get to know all the other riders and staff. The week was all planned out on a schedule, the survival trip was programmed for 24 hours maximum starting Tuesday lunchtime, that just seemed a little too comforting.. and I was right. On Monday during lunch a few guys came in dressed in military greens, they handed over a document to B.S. Christiansen who after reading it informed us there had been a 'Terrorist threat' against us and we should evacuate the area immediately.

We were given 10 minutes to get to 4 military trucks waiting in the carpark. They took us out to a military base where we were decked out with military clothing, a huge backpack full with some extra clothing, sleeping bag, mattress and cooking equipment. The team was divided into 4 groups of around 13, each with an officer appointed as a supervisor, then the trucks took us out into a forest.. and left us there. Our first task was to set up a camp, a shelter for us to sleep under and a fire so we could cook up some of our food rations. Jakob Piil was appointed as our team captain for the first task, he had experienced something like this before and did a great job settling everyone down.

After cooking up my can of chicken curry I climbed into my sleeping bag, only to be woken up an hour later and told we had to move. The next task was to orienteer around a course using a map and compass, finding set points along the way, after 4 hours of wandering around, the morning approaching and only half the points found my team admitted defeat and took a short rest before the next task. Throughout the next day we had 4 activities or tasks to accomplish, starting with rowing around a lake in rubber dinghies, driving 4wd jeeps around an off-road course, I had a great time doing that. We then learnt to use an M-16 assault rifle and were thrown into a hostage situation, staged by some guys from the Danish military, we had to shoot our way through them to find and rescue our captured mate. The rifles had a laser sight on them and each person was wearing a receiver on their vest and helmet, so you knew if you were shot your vest would make a beep noise. Once we rescued the hostage we loaded up into armoured personnel carriers and took off, about then I was thinking this is not so bad, I'm having heaps of fun, but then came the next task, dismantling a portable bridge. Made up of around 50 pieces, weighing between 50kg to 350kg, the bridge had to be disassembled and loaded onto trailers, what takes 8 military guys 15mins took our team of 13 well over an hour, everyone was tired, hungry and starting to fade.

Next came a big surprise, we hiked to our next point to find all the other teams sitting around a bbq, what a treat that was, to sit down and eat some food. Everyone was nervously looking at each other and wondering if it was all over.. It wasn't! Our supervisor Rene came and told me I was now appointed captain and to round the troops up, our next task was to navigate our way to a point using a map and compass. It was going to be a 10km hike along dirt trails, Rene told us we had to walk silent and not be noticed, the 'terrorists' would be looking for us and if we were using flashlights or making too much noise they'd start shooting at us. I was very nervous and edgy at the start of the walk, a couple of times we were spotted and the noise of the gunfire and explosions sent us running into the bushes. After a few km's my nerves settled and I was really getting into it, we were moving quite well, stopping for a 5min break every half hour, it still seemed like it would be endless. At one of our last stops we had a bit of a scare with some explosions, we took off quickly and after several hundred metres I felt one of my hands were empty when it shouldn't have been. A quick check made me realise I'd dropped our map during all the panic. I had to stop the team and tell them to wait while I went back in search of 'something' I couldn't tell them I'd lost our map! Rene came with me as I was practically counting the paces back and praying I could find that map again. Luck was surely on my side at that stage, the first time I looked into the bushes I spotted the map directly, I grabbed it and ran back to the team full of adrenalin. The last couple of km's then seemed to go on forever, we'd been walking over 5 hours, it was after midnight and everyone was really tired. We were walking up a slight hill, on a long straight road that was lined with tall trees, making it like a tunnel. Rene came to me and said when I see a red light that is our contact point. The light appeared and I thought it could only be another 10 mins walk, but after 10 mins we weren't any closer, I reckon it was moving away from us, several minutes later I was starting to think we'd never get there, then the light disappeared! At that point I didn't know what to think, just keep walking, when was this ever going to end? Then Bjarne stepped out from the darkness in front of me, the walk was over!

We took a short rest in the forest, then the trucks arrived and I thought surely they'd be taking us back home. After a long drive we didn't find ourselves in warm beds though, rather at a harbour and being loaded onto a ship that dropped us in our dinghies out in the dark ocean. A light we could see on the horizon was an island that we rowed to and took some rest, when daylight broke Rene told there was an old sailing ship passing by, if we could catch it the survival trip would be over. We must've set some sort of record in them dinghies then racing out to that ship.. And finally it was over, an experience I'll never forget! I've since had a couple of weeks back in Australia, spending Christmas and New Year with family and friends. Now back in Europe, I'm ready to go for the training camp in Italy and my first race for the season in Qatar. Wish me luck. Ciao, Luke.

It was always my plan to put the track racing aside next year and give my full commitment to racing on the road. After months of consideration and negotiation, I am very happy to announce that I will be riding in the Pro Tour next year with the Danish Team CSC. I believe the experience of the Sports Directors in the team is second to none, under their guidance I can learn alot and I hope to work well with the team in pursuit of success.

The past month for me has been a whirlwind of new experiences, travel and not much time to put the feet up.

To ride at the World Championship in Verona, be a part of and share in the success of the Australian team, was great.

We had a couple of riders that were a good chance for a result in the race, it was up to the rest of us to make sure those guys were looked after and didn't waste any energy early in the race. The course was quite nasty, with not much time to recover between the climb, accelerations on the descent and cobblestones on the flat. After 235km of the 265km race, the lights went out for me; watching Al Davis and Stuey O'Grady through that last lap I think I was more nervous than if I had been out there in the front group myself!

From there it was back to Adelaide for a few days, then onto the Suntour, where after my second place overall last year, I was pretty determined to go one better.

From the first day, things were going well for me and the team I had around me were riding incredibly strong. Unfortunately, being the favourite we were left to do alot of the work and I was watched closely, which was frustrating and took its toll by the end of the tour. Mt. Baw Baw was to be the deciding day and I was placed well in contention for a podium finish overall, but it wasn't to be. I had a terrible day, fighting off a flu, I was never comfortable. Then, a puncture just as the climb was about to start, spelt the end. Nonetheless, 10th overall was still a respectable result and it was enjoyable - the team and staff I was working with were fantastic.

While most guys were counting down the days to their "off season" or already kicked off, I was straight back on the plane to Germany to start in the 6Day race in Dortmund a few days later! Not knowing what to expect, I was a bit nervous coming into the race. Racing from 8pm through until 2am was certainly as tiring as I expected, carrying jetlag into the first couple of nights didn't make it any easier either and it was a bit of a struggle. By the 3rd night, I was into the swing of it and had found my track legs.

Most nights would consist of several races - a 60min and 45 min 'chase', 1000m madison time trial, points sprints, 1 lap time trial and elimination races. It's pretty much "go go go" the whole night. I had to change partners for the last 2 days, riding together with Robert Bartko after we lost our partners to injury and illness. We had some success, winning the 1000m time trial event on both nights. I couldn't believe the amount of people that come along to see the 6Day race. The stands were full and the centre of the track was also filled with people in a bar/restaurant setup, nothing I'd ever seen growing up racing in Australia.