Europe,Nationals and more

Europe, nationals and more.
Europe has given the Trek-Livestrong boys a taste of classic bike racing. After battling on the Pyrenean slopes in “Ronde de l’Isard” and bouncing around on the cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix we went racing on the rolling hills of Luxembourg at the “Fleche du Sud.” In the Fleche prologue, Dale Parker showed us again how much talent he has, finishing 4th. The team was really aggressive all week long and we didn’t miss a breakaway all week. Dale got a little excited with his fitness and rode in the break all day before the decisive more hilly stage. Joe Dombrowski managed to finish 5th on that stage. He made a couple mistakes during the stage that cost him to miss the decisive four-man break. He did finish 8th overall by the end of the stage race.
Straight after flying back over to North America to attend the U23 U.S. national championships in Augusta, Ga., the team started off with a brilliant performance in the time trial, finishing 1st, 2nd and 4th. Nathan Brown won gold, Lawson Craddock took silver and Carter Jones just missed the podium. The next day was a criterium in downtown Augusta, where Gavin Mannion finished 5th. Now at the start of the road race on the final day we knew that we were going to have a lot of responsibility. We managed to race hard but the course was extremely tough and a really strong Chipotle team came out better, beating us fare and square. I always say you learn more from defeats than from victories. We were disappointed in the result, but I was proud that we raced to win — not to make another team lose.
Next is a bit of a break for the boys, where they will have to get ready for what is going to be a really hard and challenging end of the season with the Cascade Classic in mid-July. That will be followed by the always difficult Tour of Utah and the Tour of Colorado, where we will be racing against Pro Tour teams and where some of our riders will want to make a good impression on those Pro Tour team managers.
We also received the great news that our sponsor has decided to renew the contract for Trek-Livestrong for another two years. The riders and staff are really looking forward to continuing this great adventure and we are thankful that some still believe that cycling needs to provide funding for younger riders.
For my part, I have pushed up the mileage on the bike to get somewhat ready for the upcoming Inaugural Valley First Granfondo Axel Merckx. I rode the course last week and enjoyed the scenery down in Penticton, British Columbia. Other great news concerning the fondo is that two-time Canadian champion Svein Tuft will honor us with his support on the ride. So between my dad, Alison Sydor, Trevor Linden, Tuft and myself you will have plenty of opportunities to share your cycling experiences with us.
See you all soon on the road.
Axel Merckx