Terminator Pat Shaw: 'I'll be back'
Pat Shaw in isolation
Pat Shaw, winner of the first two editions of the FKG Tour of Toowoomba was a surprise withdrawal yesterday, after succumbing to a gastro viris which has been troubling him over the last week or so.
CSN caught up with Pat at today’s team time trial, and gained the following candid interview:
CSN: It must be disappointing not to be in lyra today?
PS: Yes obviously being two time defending champion makes it hard, but for me the hardest part is not being able to be there today to help to my team-mates, and I definitely believe that if I was there and fit we would have blitzed this team time trial today.
CSN: Talk us through what happened yesterday that led to your withdrawal from the Tour.
PS: It started really in the first Stage. I really struggled and it was one of the toughest days for me on the bike. I got through it and thought I might recover over night but with the gastro still continuing I just didn’t get any recovery. After about 30 0r 40 ks I went back to the team car to get bottles and justr told Andrew (Christie-Johnson) it just wasn’t going to happen.
I said I’d try and push through so we could do the time trial next day.
For the next ninety Ks I just struggled the whole time and did two feeds for the guys, so just tried to do what I could, and kept moving them up when I could. But, there was just no recovery there so all the time I was burning the wick at both ends.
With about 20 ks to go I just ran out of juice completely. Like absolutely zero.
Photo: Genesys Wealth Advisers at the Team Time Trial. Copyright Peter Ford (CSN)
CSN: With all respects it hasn’t been a super season for you so far. (The Tour of )Japan wasn’t too good for you.
PS: Yea..I could have been better in most of the race I done but only better in the aspect of luck really, which is a big part of international cycling.
You gotta have the legs, but also you need a few things to go your way. I didn’t really get a lot of that luck, and a lot of the time I was leading out team-mates which I’m happy to do. As well. Still, I have three podiums this year in Asia, and I’m pretty happy with that as a non-sprinter and all in flat stages.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with my condition. If I had of come here in the same conditions as I was after the Tour of Japan, I would probably have been in the best form I’ve ever been in.
Results-wise, probably a little disappointing, but as far as far as my form was concerned I was very happy with the position I was at.
Photo: Genysys Wealth Advisors... homeward bound. Copyright Peter Ford (CSN)
CSN: So will this bout of ill-health set you back now?
PS: Obviously it sets you back, but if I can get back to 85% I’ll be a very big thorn in the side of all these other teams.
I think that if myself and Campbell Flakemore can come back up to to full strength by next week, which is looking like we will be, we are gunna be a lot different team. And also you have to remember that a lot of the guys in our team for this Tour haven’t done a lot of racing as a collective unit and I think we are only going to get stronger and better, and I think a few really top results are only just around the corner.
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