IT??S a week since Eileen Roe boarded a plane for Sydney, which will be her base for the next two months.
IT??S a week since Eileen Roe boarded a plane for Sydney, which will be her base for the next two months. While her peers are braving the biting cold, mud and mire of the Scottish cyclocross circuit, the Fife rider ?? newly signed to top women??s cycling team Wiggle-Honda ?? will be kicking off her 2015 season early under the baking sunshine of the Australian summer.
Roe, 25, will don the distinctive orange and black kit of the team managed by 2010 Commonwealth Games road race champion Rochelle Gilmore this weekend when she tackles the two-day Stan Siejka Launceston Cycling Classic in Tasmania.
Asked how she is feeling and Roe responds with trademark candour. ??I??m very excited and crapping my pants,?? she exclaims, laughing. Bubbly and gregarious, it??s impossible not to be caught up in her infectious enthusiasm. Yet, there is no doubting her determination to succeed. There are few riders who have worked harder than Roe over the years, tirelessly pursuing her goal of making it onto a UCI registered women??s team.
Having ridden for the now defunct Team Ibis Cycles, Breast Cancer Care Cycling Team and most recently Starley Primal Pro Cycling, 2014 has marked a breakthrough year which saw Roe win the overall Matrix Fitness Grand Prix Series title and become British National Circuit Race champion. She was an integral part of Team Scotland??s women??s cycling squad at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow competing on both the track and road.
It was at the Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix in August, however, that she cemented her status as a rising star of the cycling world by catching the eye of Gilmore. As is happened the Australian was sharing a commentary box with former Scottish pro cyclist Brian Smith who, as a co-founder of the Braveheart Cycling Fund, has closely followed and supported Roe??s career over the years.
Roe was jetting off on holiday when the telephone call came. She paints the scene that followed as one of both incredulous disbelief and tears of joy. ??I had planned to have a think about what I wanted to do next year then send out my CV to teams when I got home from holiday,?? she says. ??It was a big surprise. When Brian phoned, I couldn??t believe it. I was actually crying when he told me.
??He said it was the real deal and I needed to make the decision quickly because the offer wouldn??t stay open for long. I only had a couple of days to decide but there was no way I was going to let that opportunity pass me by.??
Having originally signed for 2015, this was later extended to take in the remainder of the 2014 season and allow Roe to sharpen her race form on the tough Australian circuit. After six weeks of enforced rest after a nasty bout of bronchitis this autumn, she is back to full fitness and raring to go.
??After RideLondon, the three Musketeers ?? Charline Joiner, Katie Archibald and I ?? went on holiday to Turkey for some much needed time off,?? she says. ??A week after I got home I had bronchitis and an ear infection. It took two sets of antibiotics to get rid of it and for six weeks I wasn??t able to do anything. Basically my body was saying: ??Stop.????
But now, it??s firmly back to go. Roe will race the famed Bay Crits in Melbourne in January followed by the Tour Down Under later that month. ??Cadel Evans has got a new race which is January 31 so I??ll be doing that as well,?? she says.
She is scheduled to return home to Scotland on February 2. Following the Wiggle-Honda team camp in March, Roe will switch her focus to a European race programme. In addition, it is her hope to do the UCI World Cup in China in May. ??It??s a very flat race and should suit me well,?? she says. ??I would like to prove myself not only as a crit rider, but on the road as well.??
Roe, who lives in the former mining village of High Valleyfield in Fife, began cycling aged 10 on the Highland grass tracks after her father Brendan coaxed her to make up the numbers in a youth race.
After getting her first race licence at 13, she has been a regular in the Scottish national squad at junior and senior level over the past decade. Roe is renowned among cycling circles for her prowess as master tactician and canny knack for reading the all-important race winning move.
British trio Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell, Elinor Barker and New Zealand??s Commonwealth Games time trial champion Linda Villumsen may be destined for pastures new in 2015, but the Wiggle-Honda line-up remains strong. Its ranks include a clutch of world, Olympic and Commonwealth medallists such as Dani King, Chloe Hosking and Annette Edmondson as well as two-time Giro Rosa champion Mara Abbott.
It??s lofty company but Roe is keeping a foot firmly on the ground. ??I??m not looking beyond 2015 at the moment because I don??t want to get too carried away with myself,?? she says. ??It??s a massive opportunity and I want to make the most of it.
??This is what I??ve wanted for so long and I??ve worked hard to get here. It??s a dream come true to be on a UCI women??s road team and Wiggle-Honda is one of the biggest out there.??
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