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At the age of 36 and after 17 years in elite cycling, Australian stalwart Stuart O’Grady still has the hunger.
Just weeks after the arrival of his third child, O’Grady will add valuable experience to a strong Australian team in Sunday’s road race at the world championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland.
“I still love the competition and racing the Tour de France and the Classics,” O’Grady told AAP.
“I’ve got a contract for next year and at the moment the hunger is still there to compete.
“As long as that’s there, I’ll just keep going with the flow.”
Wife Anne-Marie recently gave birth to Tayla Grace, a sister to Seth, five, and Keira, two.
“Home is pretty busy at the moment and my wife’s flat out, but I left it up to her to decide if she needed a hand or to go for it at the world championships and the world championships came out this time,” said O’Grady.
“I’m fully focused and ready to go.”
The Team Saxo Bank rider agrees with team-mate and good friend Simon Gerrans’ assertion earlier this week that Australia will field one of their strongest world championship outfits of recent years.
“We haven’t just got a sprinter here or one guy that can win, there’s three or four guys that are a real chance for the podium,” O’Grady said.
“We just have to play a smart race and work together.”
Gerrans and fellow Australian Cadel Evans, a dual Tour de France runner-up, have realistic chances of winning.
Evans is in top form, having finished third in the Vuelta a Espagna, although the gruelling 3,260km race will ask much of his powers of recovery.
O’Grady has branded Gerrans a dark horse for the 262.2km event after stage wins in this year’s Giro d’Italia and Vuelta, where a crash forced him to retire.
“Simon has really impressed me this year,” O’Grady said.
“He’s just really looking strong and fit and obviously a lot more confident. A big part of this game is being confident.
“He’s in the form of his life. I’ve been riding with him the last few days.”
O’Grady, who pulled out of the Vuelta following the 16th stage with bronchitis, also has a chance in what he sees as an “opportunist’s race” as has team-mate Allan Davis.
They will be joined by Simon Clarke, Mathew Hayman, Matt Lloyd, Michael Rogers and Wesley Sulzberger in Australian’s nine-man team looking to topple favourites Italy and Spain.
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