80 Coppa Collecchio, Nr Parma, Italy

Not a great race for me....Was feeling great and started well but not too far into the race my seat decided it had had enough and parted company with the seat post....

Of course this happened in the tightest most technical part of the route so I had to continuously stand up for around 20mins before I could drop back to the team car.

Let's just say various 'undorthodox' solutions were tried whilst I clung to the side of the car and teammate Callum wielded the 'magic spanner' but all to no avail so in the end we stopped and I changed over to Knoxy's spare bike which was way too big, so the day went from bad to much worse....chased back on....another bike change.....chased back on.....another bike change....chased back on....legs now screwed and got dropped on the final circuit :(

Oh well at least I got plenty of 'moving up through the convoy' experience...some days it just ain't your day! On to the next race....this Sunday, stay tuned... :)

26 Trofeo S.C. Corsanico, Pisa, Italy

Yesterday was my second attempt at Italian Elite National road racing and I'm super happy to report that after 4+ hours of intense racing I got my best result to date coming home in 13th from a field of 150 riders.

The course was pretty strange with the main climbs and insane descents being separated by a huge 80km section of flat.

Now feeling much better and with my form staring to return I was aggressive and active from the start and got involved in most of the breakaways throughout the race.

I probably did a little too much work towards the end of the race....My teammate Callum was in the front break and I was marking the chasing group but getting frequently hassled to contribute. Riders were showing their annoyance by trying to put me out the back by letting wheels go and forcing me to chase on so I decided it was probably better to take my turn although this definitely affected my finishing ability on the day.

Having said that it's a huge learning curve and getting 13th in my second crack at top flight italian racing in only my second season of road racing is pretty damn sweet!

Huge thanks to Flavio Zappi for all his help so far and for giving me this incredible opportunity to race for his team.

Giro del Valdarno 2015, Florence, Italy

Debuted at my first race in Italy yesterday, racing for Zappi's Pro Cycling at the Giro del Valdarno 2015 in the Tuscan hills near Florence.

A hilly 4+ hours of racing 160km in 30deg heat after a brief bout of illness was certainly tough, so I was pleased to get around and ended up with a fairly respectable top 30 place (out of 180 riders) - 2nd Zappi rider home.

Looking forward to the next one this weekend where I should hopefully be fully recovered, feeling a lot stronger and playing my A game :)