The fact I feel tranquil now after the Volta a Portugal is the fact I’ve got an education, a business and I have lived my dreams as a cyclist. I’m looking forward and I’ll keep riding my bike. I love cycling.
This Volta, the Volta a Portugal 2013 and I really feel lucky to get here. My form is good, possibly the best ever. Obviously I get the odd pang of paranoia; I think twice if I drink a beer, worry about food - kind of stupid really.
One more time over some incredible hills. One more chance for the Schlecks to take seconds away from Cadel. One more opportunity for them to sap the power from his legs to minimize the damage he does to them in tomorrow's TT. 100km, three categorized climbs, 2851m vertical ascent. This stage is not as huge as last night's, but being so short and sharp, there is still enormous potential for damage to be done.
It was December when we last spoke to Paisley’s fastest man, Jack Carlin about his hopes for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Australia – that was before a successful British Track Championship where he came away as Sprint Champion then an excellent Worlds campaign which saw him land two silver medals.