by Joao Correia

I am happy to report that the Cervelo TestTeam has its first men’s team win of the season.

For the past ten days I have been in Majorca with Theo Bos our Dutch Sprinter training and testing some cycleops products. We were fortunate to have David Catchart from Cycleops there with us and put in a very solid ten days of training. Theo and I both use the Joule and the PowerTap for racing and training, and not being a very fast rider, it’s always humbling to compare his numbers to mine. That is nowhere more evident than on the days that we are doing sprints. You know when you are sprinting against somebody and your both neck to neck and you think, I may just have this turkey. Well with Theo and I that never really happens. He peak power is about 50% more than mine. Yeah it’s pretty humbling. But here is the good news: the guy just won Classica de Almeria beating Mark Cavendish who is the reference sprinter of the moment as many of you know.

by Joao Correia

I am happy to report that I recently completed my first stage race of the season. Although it is still mid-February the cycling season in Europe is in full swing. The Cervélo Test Team did a dual schedule of the Etoile de Besseges the race that I was part of, and we also had a men’s and women’s squad at the Tour of Qatar. The women’s team opened the team’s account by winning the Tour of Qatar with Kristen Wilde. Now the men need to catch up.

Traditionally the French races in February such as the Etoille de Besseges and the Tour of the Mediterranean were training races. Today they are full-fledged races that are hard in their own merit. For the French teams they are important races and we raced against small French pro teams that I had never heard of but who were as competitive as the Pro-Tour teams at the race.

by Joao Correia

There are a lot of professional cyclists out there that nobody has ever heard of and I am no different. But I am probably one of the unlikeliest stories in the European peloton this year. The main reason is that I am just like you. Up until December 1st I manned a desk like most of you and cycling was a passion (more like an obsession) but like most of you it had to be balanced with a career and family including kids. Many nights and especially in the winter I’d get home late at night and hit the trainer. Sound familiar?