Cameron Meyer’s second place at the Australian time trial championships removed any lingering concerns about the cyclist’s form for his Tour Down Under title defence.
Tuesday’s ride on the final day of the Australian titles was a timely confidence boost for the 24-year-old GreenEDGE rider.
Two days previously, he made a bold bid for victory in the national championships road race when he broke away by himself with about 60km left.
The break lasted just over 33km before he spectacularly “hit the wall” and had to pull out because his energy levels had plummeted.
Meyer could not take in enough food to maintain the pace he was setting.
But a solid time trial performance, where he finished second to Luke Durbridge by seven seconds, has Meyer in a good frame of mind for the January 15-22 Tour Down Under in and around Adelaide.
“I pulled up alright (from Sunday’s road race), it was one of those things on the day where your body just shuts down,” Meyer said.
“The lights went out and it happened within 5km.
“I wouldn’t have run second if I had felt the effects.”
Meyer felt Sunday’s massive mid-race hunger flat was a once-off mishap and said it would be a different style of racing throughout the Tour Down Under.
Even with Jack Bobridge ruled out on Thursday, Australia’s GreenEDGE team will take a strong team into their home tour.
While Meyer is the defending champion, team-mate Simon Gerrans rode superbly to win Sunday’s national road title.
Gerrans also won the tour in 2006 and the new summit finish for the decisive Willunga stage will suit him.
“We definitely have a versatile team – Simon Gerrans showed that he probably has his hand up to be right up there and look for a Tour win,” Meyer said.
“If I’m in a supporting role for Simon, I’m happy to do that.
“If my legs show up to be good enough or the circumstances arise that I find myself in a break or something like that, I will definitely give it a crack.
“I will definitely go in with good legs. We’ll have to see how it plays out.”
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