On the eve of the start of the Classics season, 34 year old Roger Hammond is embarking on his eight season as a professional cyclist. He started his career winning a Junior World Title in cross racing, and since then, he has been two-time British Road Champion, three-time British cyclocross champion (2004, 2006 and 2008) and has proven to be a great classics rider with a second place at Ghent-Wevelgem in 2007, and a third place in Paris-Roubaix in 2004.

After four year with Continental teams, in 2005 Hammond rode for the Discovery Channel team in crashed-marred two years. He then moved onto the T-Mobile team in 2007,and Hammond stayed with the team when it established its new direction of clean and fair sport and new name Team High Road for the 2008 season.

Hammond loves the Classics and still dreams of conquering the Hell of the North, Paris-Roubaix. We caught up with a relaxed Hammond on a sunny day during the Team High Road training camp in San Luis Obispo, California.

Hammond enjoys the friendly mood of the team and considers that the goal of riding clean helps in bringing people together. “We have this strong common goal and it brings the riders closer together, take away winning bike races because everybody has got different motivations, different ambitions in winning bike races so it’s not a common goal but the anti-doping is a very strong common goal.”

As a veteran, Hammond quipped that his role was to “keep the young lads in line.” Team owner Bob Stapleton laughingly agreed that Hammond “wasn’t far off” with his take of his role on the team where 20 men and women are under the age of 25.

For Hammond, cycling is like Formula 1, where very rarely does a new driver come in to win a race, a rider needs to learn a lot, and that winning is not just about being strong. He feels that he can show a lot to the young riders on the team.

“I’ve got 14 years of mistakes that I’ve made and hopefully if I can save the young riders from making my mistakes and reduces the number of mistakes that they’ll make in their careers and I think that’s very important, you need it in a team.”

He explained that it takes more than talent to win the big races. “I think you saw with our results last year in the big one day Classics, it was the older riders that were there, and it takes quite a good deal of experience and knowledge to ride those races.”

Experience counts and learning from racing in the Classics is very important. “Tour of Flanders you change directions five hundred million times in a race, so unless you’ve done it. It’s a great race to ride, it can be the greatest in the world and the most frustrating thing in life and Roubaix is the same.”

Saving energy is the way to win the Classics. “The first time I did Roubaix I wasted so much energy just fighting for the wrong section of cobbles, the first year, I was eighteenth but absolutely dead. the second year, I went I was third and it just shows you how much you can learn in one year, just by riding it once.”

“And then you gain that experience each year, more and more experience and you can refine your efforts and that is how you win Classics. It’s not be being ten times better than anybody else, it’s by saving energy and not wasting it.”

When asked about his favorite Classics, Hammond easily answered that it had to be Paris-Roubaix. “Right from the beginning to the end, I just have fun, I enjoy them.”

He doesn’t like the nasty weather that often occurs during the Belgian Classics, but uses it to his advantage. “I don’t think anybody likes it, it’s just some people go better in it. And when it’s nasty weather, I can eliminate about fifty percent of the peloton and that’s the way I look at it.”

Hammond is starting his season focusing on “the one day classics so I’m just saving for those races”, and is hoping that Team High Road gets an invitation to his favorite Paris-Roubaix.

He has not decided about the Olympic Games yet, as the circuit favors climbers. “So I’m not really sure how much emphasis I’ll put on it, well we’ll just have to see how it goes, it just depends how I’m climbing later on we’ll have a look.”

Roger Hammond and George Hincapie at the 2007 World Championship in Stuttgart, Germany

by Stephanie Gutowski and Lyne Lamoureux

Starting a new journey together, the entire roster of 42 male and female, elite international athletes, mechanics, soigneurs and staff of Team High Road gathered in the San Luis Obispo area of California for a training camp.

The RoadBikeReview crew met with the team on Saturday morning under sunny skies while they were preparing to go for a ride. Given the latest hurdle to challenge the team, the non-invite to the Giro (note: team is in talk with Giro organizers), it wouldn’t have been surprising to encounter a group of long-faced and depressed individuals. Far from it, we found a group of relaxed athletes and busy staff, smiling and excited about the new year.

Team Owner and Manager Bob Stapleton was moving around and talking with everyone, including as shown here, USA Cycling CEO Stee Johnson.

The mood is exemplified by our hilarious conversation with 23-year old Morris Possoni of Italy:

RBR: Do you speak English?
Morris: (smiles) No, sorry.
RBR: How about French?
Morris: No
RBR (now laughing): Japanese?
Morris: Yes…
RBR: Really?
Morris: No … and laughs

Here are some of the sights and sounds we collected.

While the staff was working on the bikes, and making last minutes adjustments, the riders were gathering by the ocean, in groups of eight, for their morning core exercises to get ready for the ride.

George Hincapie (USA) 34
The Tour of California is a great race and I’ll be working hard for my team, a new American team now. We’re really excited and trying to get ready for it. The switch to an American team is good. I can say that I have ridden for an American team all of my career. It’s kind nice to say.

I’ll be focusing on the Classics this year. I’d like to start off strong with the Tour of California.

Marco Pinotti (Italy) 32
I think that this is an important year for cycling in general. We as a team stand as a leader of the world cycling movement. As you have seen in Australia, we win races. We want to complete our mission to change cycling. We have great support from the team management. We are riders riding in the best environment. I think in everything we do we have to find our values, to do everything according to those values, to the rules. It’s important for us to show the young people that the sport still has values, to teach the young riders that it is possible to ride clean.

We want to win stages in the Tour of California. Cavendish or Ciolek are good sprinters, and of course we have George (Hincapie) for GC. I see him working hard and he is focusing on this race. I look forward to show that we work like a team.

Michael Barry (Canada) 32
We dealt with a lot of adversity last year and we’re just hoping it sorts itself out and we can compete. I think we’re proven that we are clean team and hopefully the organizers see that.

My health is good, I took a couple of months off in the middle of last season, looking to get my health back to normal again and my immune system so I feel really good and pretty excited about the season actually.

The first big goal are the Ardennes classics and hopefully we get into the Giro, that was a big goal of mine and I’d love to go the Tour too.

I’m a veteran I guess, my role is helping out the younger guys, I have a strong role as a domestic on the team and also last year I had a lousy season, but in the past I’ve performed well in the one day races and stages races, I’d like to get back to that level again and have some strong finishes in some of the Classics and stuff.

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway) 20
First year as a pro, my goal is to ride fast and do a good job for the team. Every race I want to do my best.

Bradley Wiggins (UK) 27
The change to being an American team is a positive change. The atmosphere here is good and for us English speaking riders it’s very good. It’s been a good change. I am personally focusing in on the Olympics.

Adam Hansen (Australia) 26
My goal is just try and work as well as I can and try to be a complete rider. I haven’t set any goals on any particular races because the schedule is a bit all over the place, so do what I can really.

Am I tough guy? (smiles) I think so. I hope to do the Crocodile Trophy race again this year, it just depends on the team commitments. Normally I can’t do it because we have a team meeting at that time of the year because the race falls on a bad day. This year, it might change a few times.

John Devine (USA) 22
My goals? Just to prove my value on the team, and show I’m a climber and short stage races. Schedule is getting tossed around a bit but I know that the team would like me to do well in Georgia, the Dauphine hopefully. Things change, programs change.

There’s a lot of guys, we have young guys like Linus with the Tour, Lokvist he’s proven himself, also guys like Kim Kirchen, he’s proven himself, he’s the kind of rider I’d like to be, as well as Rodgers and the others,
there are so many others.

Roger Hammond (UK) 34
My goals? Tour of Flanders is the same, got to wait and see on Roubaix. Tour of Flanders and Gent-Wevelgem, they are guaranteed, the one day classics so I’m just saving for those races as if we’re doing them.

Craig Lewis (USA) 23
It’s my first year with a ProTour team and I’m coming in with one of the best team in the world so my personal goal is just to make an impression and to show that I’m there to help them out and hopefully learn from all the veterans that we have.

I know I’m heading over to Europe and doing a few of the Classics like Liege and Fleche and some of the smaller tours like Dauphine and Catalunya and Romandie, a pretty good program. Definitely looking forwards to doing Liege, it’s the oldest race in the world, and that will be pretty cool.

I just came on through George Hincapie, he’s kind of been my mentor since I started, so he was the contact and he got me to talk to Bob and that’s how I got here.

The riders were divided into groups of eight, and left the resort about fifteen minute intervals, chatting and smiling away.

See you at the races