Multiple London-Paris Cycle Tour yellow jersey holder, Jerone Walters, pulled off an impressive performance at the recent National Time Trial championships, an event which was won by Garmin-Slipstream rider and 4th place Tour de France finisher, Bradley Wiggins. Top time triallists Michael Hutchinson, Chris Newton and Rob Hayles came in at 2nd, 3rd and 4th places respectively. Walters proving his talent by being one of the highest placed riders that has a full time job. Photo right: Jerone Walters
Adam Tranter caught up with the Sigma Sport ace to ask him about his impressive 7th place result over the 31.2 mile distance.
How did you feel during the ride?
I started and felt ok, then continued feeling worse and worse until my misery finished 3 laps later. Normally I start too fast and fade especially when the time trial is not so flat, so I tried to measure my effort a little better by using my power meter to some success. I had never done such a long time trial before so was conscious the distance would not do me any favours.
Was it what you expected?
My aim was simply to be within 10% of Wiggins time which I knew would be close, and I did it - just! Wiggins showed everyone why he is one of the best in the world which was an awesome display.
How did you prepare for the event?
I did some of the Tour Series with the Sigma Sport / Specialized / Sportful team in May and June and then started doing some time trials once they finished. Jennifer Hewitt did a couple of threshold / lactate tests on me to gauge where I was and then set a training program to improve my time trialling through July and August. As I don't have a lot of time my training, during the week consisted of 2 - 3 turbo sessions of 45 min - 1 houreach which were never pleasurable experiences. Weekends would then be a race one day and 2-3 hours the other which would generally include some sort of intervals / strength work.
What's planned for the rest of the season and through the winter?
This weekend I are riding the Surrey League Team Time Trial championships with my Sigma Sport team-mates Wouter Sybrandy, Steve Golla and Dan Duguid. The following week on September 20th I am riding the Duo Normandy two-up time trial in France with Phil Sykes (VC St Raphael) which will be my last race of my season. My team-mates Wouter Sybrandy and Steve Golla are also riding and hoping to ride well. I started racing in December last year the Hillingdon Winter Series to help get fit for the Cape Epic in South Africa that I rode in early March, so it's been a long year and very much look forward to the off-season! Through winter I will focus on building some strength with some weights during the week and hopefully more casual group training rides on the weekends.
Full results: click here.
Photo left: Eventual winner, Bradley Wiggins
All photos: Michael Blann