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| Super-locke |
Those of you who follow me on Twitter (@studentcyclist) will probably have noticed that I’m quite a big fan of Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (or JTL as it has become customary to refer to him as).
The then Rapha Condor Sharp rider first appeared on the horizons of a lot of cycling fans with a stunning performance in last year’s Tour of Britain which saw him win the mountains classification and turn in a decent time trial on the final day to secure 6th spot in GC. Although the talent was there for all to see, it was somehow ignored by the higher level Pro Continental and Pro Tour teams, meaning that JTL had to settle with a place at (the admittedly very ambitious) Endura team.
However, what was many’s loss was most definitely Endura’s gain. So far this season JTL has secured overall victories in the Tour Méditerranéen and the Tour du Haut Var (including 3 stage wins) and 2nd in the Vuelta a Murcia. To put these results into perspective the previous winners of these races are David Moncoutié, Thomas Voeckler and Jérôme Coppel respectively. It’s therefore no surprise that this prompted some interest from teams further up the cycling ladder, including Rabobank, Vacansoleil and, most interestingly, Sky.
Another thing that the results prompted was speculation over possible doping, especially as Endura is not subject to the UCI’s biological passport programme due to its Continental status. This seems customary whenever new riders appear on the scene, apparently especially so when it involves a British rider excelling in a French race (think Bradley Wiggins after his fourth place in the 2009 Tour de France). However thankfully it appears that JTL’s excellent early season form can be easily explained. Losing a massive 9kg in the last year has vastly improved his climbing while setting these early season races as specific targets while others are using them to race into shape would explain his dominance. As for his late emergence at the age of 27, this is due to lengthy battles with illness and university throughout his 20s.
At this point you may be wondering why I have chosen to write this post nearly a month after the events I’ve been discussing. Well if you’re on the lookout for a superb 8 minute interview, then Ned Boulting’s chat with the man himself is well worth a listen. What I’ve talked about above gives a bit of context to the interview, which goes into much more detail.
JTL’s views on doping and the scrutiny he has been under are particularly interesting.
The full interview can be found here
Student Cyclist 