Changing Gears

THIS YEAR’S TOUR DE FRANCE COVERAGE WAS peppered with advertising espousing the virtues of the ‘Next Stage’. But what happens if that next stage comes a whole lot sooner than you’d anticipated? What if the reality of pro cycling simply doesn’t match the dream? What if you even fall out of love with the bike entirely?

Many promising riders have succumbed to these emotions over the years; stepping off the bike, not at the hands of ruthless team bosses or career-ending injuries, but simply because they’d had enough. The reaction from others is often a despairing shrug of the shoulders, sprinkled with disbelief as to why a young athlete would voluntarily turn their back on such a dream career. But should we really be surprised?

Australia’s elite cycling ranks offer two recent high-profile examples: Campbell Flakemore and Ellen Skerritt. A few years ago, both seemingly had the world at their pedals after landing contracts with BMC and Alé Cipollini respectively. Yet within 12 months of joining the WorldTour they’d left professional cycling