Caleb Ewen delivered for Orica-SCOTT today. The diminutive Aussie timed his sprint to perfection to win Stage 7 of the 2017 Giro d'Italia, thanks in no small part the rest of his hardworking Australian squad. There'll be celebrations in the camp tonight no doubt and rightly so. But one thing's for sure - one of the Orica boys will be out walking around Molfetta tomorrow morning ahead of the long haul to Peschici, getting himself ready for his day's work.
Pro cyclists don't like to walk. Watch the morning descent on the breakfast buffet at a World Tour stage race hotel and one could be forgiven for witnessing a proverbial death march. Slow shuffling predominates, where the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other seems like a monumental effort. Foot speed is slow and exaggerated where body language seems to wish for a motorised shuttle service. You mean we've got to walk there? Sometimes facial expressions say it all.
But there are a few exceptions to this gross generalisation and, for one, walking is an essential part to starting his day on Any Given Grand Tour.
Svein Tuft is not your average pro rider. A native of Canada's rugged back country, tales abound of the Orica-SCOTT super-domestique's love of the great outdoors. Got to get fit for a pre-season training camp with his previous team in SoCal? No problem, just ride there from Canada with a sack of potatoes and sleep under the stars. Yes, Svein is the exception to many a rule.
The soft-spoken Canadian starts each and every day whilst on tour with a barefoot walk in the local surrounds. Whether Italy or France, Spain or Belgium or anywhere else, the sight of "Shoeless Sven" strolling around whilst his colleagues are still sound asleep is a recurring one. He needs this time, it centres him and gets him ready for the day's work. A true case of "getting in the zone", so to speak, real Zen kind of stuff if you like. And it's great for his psoas too.
But it's unlikely he'll be taking "selfies" though; he's a little averse to mobile phone addiction and/or social media.
As he told Daniel here.
Good luck for tomorrow Svein. Get in the zone, smell the roses and drive the peloton. Like any good worker (and walker) would.
