2008 Tour of Britain...Boxing on.

Well, it's been a pretty long week so far and we still have a few days to go here at the Tour of Britain.

Since the Tour of Ireland, things have gone pretty well and I'm still confident about my form. Unfortunately here I still haven't nailed that elusive win but came close in stage 2 and have been top 5 a couple of times since. Most of the stages since I got 2nd, have been breakaways so I haven't had the chance again to sprint. It might be the go to get in the break if I'm feeling up to it.

I'm actually finding it a little hard to balance things out with the form and preparing for the Worlds. It's been a long season for me. I've been racing since the second week of January and have had a lot of 'focus' races, what with the Nationals, Milan - San Remo, the Giro, the Tour, the Olympics and now the Worlds right on my heels. It would easy to go out and give it all every day here for the win but my body is telling me to conserve a little bit on some occasions in order to continue to build the form for the Worlds and more importantly, to save some punch for the Worlds.

I seem to be alternating between having one good day and one average day here. Although even on the average days I still seem to be going ok. It's important though for me to take it easier whenever I can so as not to tip the balance the other direction. After the season I've had, for sure I'm running low on both the 'mental cards' and the 'physical cards' that allow me to peak for each focus race. It's crucial that I ride this race smart or else I could easily spend my last cards and be left empty handed come the Worlds.

Over the next couple days I'll try and pick a moment to attack or follow an attack. I want to dig deep once to see just how good the form is and to find out what I need to work on specifically before the Worlds. So my aim now is to get in the break, dig deep and try for the stage win. Sounds simple, doesn't it?

When I think back to 1999, when I first came here and won 2 stages, it makes me realise what a good young talent I was and I didn't even know it. It's not easy here even though the field is a lot less than what we are used to and the teams are smaller. The racing is staunchly competitive and it's not a race you can bluff your way through and get results.

Anyway, we have three more stages to go then it's home James for 2 wk's solid training before heading off to the Worlds in Varese, Italy.

Stay tuned if you dare...

Julz

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