News

04 March 2010

With Simon having competed for four different teams in the last four years, Peter Ottis from Canada would like to know what effects changing teams has had on Simon’s training and preparation. Peter would also like to know about the affect this change has had, if any, on Simon’s personal life outside of cycling.

Hi Peter, thanks for the question. It has not been a big change personally in swapping teams like I have, as I’ve always been able to keep my home base. It is not necessary for cycling teams to train together everyday therefore we don’t need to live in one particular area. Although we do get together for races and training camps, we mainly train on our own so this allows us to live where we like.

I started my professional career with Ag2r Prevoyance and I was there for 3 years from 2005-2007. I then moved to Credit Agricole and signed for 2 years however as the team could not find a sponsor I was free to leave and joined Cervelo for 2009. Now I am on Team Sky and couldn’t be happier. The team is great in their approach to getting the best out of the riders.

Each of the teams I’ve raced with are quite different in the way they approach all aspects of cycling. It has been really easy to adapt to each team, because there’s been a great ambience in each one.

Changing teams also hasn’t had a big effect on how I train. I have a personal coach who I’ve been working with for the past 7 years, so I haven not had to change the way I train with each team. At Team Sky we have a team trainer and some really experienced directors who we are able to discuss our training and preparation with. My personal coach was fortunate to have an in depth meeting with the Team Sky management before the season began to discuss my training/racing schedule. To know that my coach and the team are on the same page is great and allows me to achieve my best. 

Simon.

Print