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• T&T cyclist Paul draws inspiration from tough 2022 season, targets more success after recent win in Germany

  It is so far so good for top Trinidad and Tobago cyclist Nicholas Paul on the international circuit, and he is determined to keep that rhythm going for the remainder of the season.

  While he is well aware that it is easier said than done, Paul has no intentions of overthinking things. Instead, the 24-year-old is focused on the basics –ensuring he is fit, healthy and trusting the process.

  Paul's revelation came after he won the Men’s Elite Sprint gold medal at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Class One event in Germany recently, which he believes puts him on course to achieve his targets this year.

  The win followed his series of unstoppable performances at the UCI Nation’s Cup in Milton Canada, as well as the ‘Speed Paradise’ and the Carnival of Speed events at the National Cycling Centre (NCC) in Balmain, Couva, all in April.

  "My race in Germany was great. I came away with the victory in the sprints and I executed all my other races well, so I’m really pleased with my performance," Paul said.

  "So, in terms of my readiness and preparations, I am on track in regard to my set goals, I just have to keep working hard to get faster, stronger and smarter for the rest of my upcoming races," he added.

  In any sport, there are always ups and downs and when things are going bad it seems a bit harder, much like Paul experienced during a challenging but successful 2022 season through which he had to exercise patience, persistence and more importantly, smile in the face of adversity.

  At the start of that season, Paul crashed and broke his collarbone at the First Nations Cup in Glasgow, Scotland and was out of training and competitions for about two months. 

  After recovering from that injury, the Gasparillo-born cyclist went on to win two gold medals at the Third Nations Cup in Cali, Colombia and followed that up with impressive performances at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, setting a new Games Record in the flying 200m Time Trial. He also won a full set of medals gold, silver and bronze in the Keirin, Sprints and 1km Time Trial.

  But then came another setback.

  "My last event should have been the World Championship in France. However, another unfortunate crash in preparation for the World Championship prematurely ended my 2022 season," Paul shared.

  "So, there were a lot of highs and lows last season, but they taught me a lot as an athlete. My mental preparedness in sports has been enhanced and I am very clear that nothing is impossible once you put your mind to it. Hurdles are sometimes a part of life but the lesson is how you rise above your hurdles," he said.

  Now that things are back on track and he is currently enjoying a high, Paul is hoping to add more silverware from the Pan American Cycling Championships, the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, World Championships and the Pan American Games, to his collection.

  "But my overall goal for this year and beyond is to firstly qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games and secondly, try to win a medal or medals at the Olympic Games for Trinidad and Tobago," Paul declared.

• Kye White highlights the value of grassroots clubs in developing young cyclists

  Olympic BMX silver medallist Kye Whyte feels grassroots clubs can continue to help guide youngsters on a safe pathway through any socio-economic challenges within their communities.

  Whyte, 23, grew up in south London where his father Nigel was a co-founder of the Peckham BMX Club in Burgess Park, which aims to steer young people away from gang culture and crime.

  The youngest of three brothers, Whyte also went on to represent Great Britain, winning silver at the 2018 European Championship in Glasgow before finishing second in the BMX final at the Tokyo Olympics.

  Whyte – who has since taken silver in the 2022 UCI BMX World Championships as well claiming the European title in Belgium last summer – recently returned to his Peckham roots to help launch the ‘Play Their Way’ campaign by the Children’s Coaching Collaborative which is funded through Sport England and the National Lottery.

  Having seen first hand how such projects have helped young people develop, Whyte is in no doubt of the important impact they can have – both on and off the track.

  “We have had kids and teenagers come here who are on a troubled path, but want to go on to a different path,” Whyte told the PA news agency.

  “They have then become volunteer coaches, helping clean the bikes and pack them away. It is a great way to keep kids off the streets and doing something fun.”

  Whyte added: “Getting kids into racing is no problem, but if they want their own bike it can be hard to finance that.

  “If they can’t afford it (to buy), we can help them by lending bikes and providing helmets for training or even if they need them for racing events as well.”

  In Tokyo, Whyte won Britain’s first BMX medal since the event’s introduction to the Olympic programme in 2008.

  There was more success shortly afterwards at the Ariake Urban Sports Park when Beth Shriever claimed gold in the women’s race.

  As Shriever collapsed in tears following her victory, a jubilant Whyte scooped his team-mate up and held her aloft in what was one of the most memorable moments of the delayed 2020 Games.

  “All we want for the sport is for it to be more enjoyable and better for the future,” said Whyte.

  “While we are in it, that is all we can do – to push it as much as we can.

  “Having gone to the Olympics to get a medal, we have put the sport onto the map and at a bigger level.”

  Whyte is working his way back to full fitness after suffering a broken shoulder blade during a BMX European Cup event in Latvia last month.

  The 23-year-old is firmly focused on a return to form ahead of the World Championships in Glasgow during August.

   

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  “I am on the mend, keeping the physio up. We will push through and get there in the end,” he said.

  “If you are thinking about it (injuries), then it will probably happen, just because you are riding more wary or cautious.”

  Whyte added: “When we were in Glasgow in 2018 (for the European Championships), they had grandstands up and I am pretty sure that nobody there had a clue what BMX was.

  “But the crowd was absolutely mental, so I think it will be a great event again.”

• Tom Pidcock happy to ‘play down’ yellow jersey ambitions at Tour de France

  Tom Pidcock is reluctant to call it a target but the opportunity to take the yellow jersey on the opening weekend of this year’s Tour de France has not escaped his notice.

  The 23-year-old will race his second Tour this July, and said his goal is to do better than he did on debut last summer.

  That might seem a lofty ambition given how Pidcock stormed to a stunning solo stage victory on the Alpe d’Huez, the descending skills with which he escaped his breakaway companions still talked of with awe.

  But it would get even more attention if the Ineos Grenadiers rider enjoyed a spell in yellow, and a lumpy opening stage in the Basque Country offers a rider of Pidcock’s talents a chance.

  “I think it is (an opportunity), yeah,” he told the PA news agency. “It’s a possibility and something that I am aware is a possibility. I think the first stage of the Tour is one that can be treated like a one-day classic, it’s going to be a super-hard day.”

  When told that sounds non-committal, Pidcock quickly adds: “I’m just playing it down.”

  Pidcock, who proved his one-day credentials at Strade Bianche in March, is far from alone in eyeing that opening stage, but he has other goals in July too.

  He wants to show greater consistency in the general classification, and also to win a stage from the main bunch rather than a break.

  “Last year I was going to the Tour two months after being ill in the spring and then getting Covid, it was not the perfect lead in,” he said. “I think this year I’m stronger and I can do better, basically.”

  Pidcock is certainly riding high on the back of his recent spell on the mountain bike.

  The Olympic champion took two victories from the World Cup round in Novo Mesto, first storming from last to first to win a short track race he only learned he was riding with a couple of hours’ notice, then recovering from a lap-five crash to win the cross-country race.

   

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  It came after he finished second in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and third in the Amstel Gold Race at the end of April.

  The run of form is affirmation for the work Pidcock did in the winter, when he chose not to defend his cyclo-cross world title but instead focus on conditioning.

  Although a crash at Tirreno-Adriatico in late March punched a hole in some of his ambitions, the core fitness remains.

  “Definitely I feel I’m a bit more robust and certainly at a higher level and I have been for longer and I think that’s partly from the extra time spent building a base preparing,” he said. “I think that’s only going to carry into the rest of the season.”

  Throughout his young career to date, the Yorkshireman has juggled the demands of road, mountain bike and cross, but always knew there would come a time when something had to give. This season has shown how that might look.

  “I think if I want to achieve the goals I do on the road, certainly there are going to have to be sacrifices in other disciplines,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean they don’t contribute and help with those ambitions.”

  There are likely to be sacrifices too at August’s World Championships in Scotland, where the first combined multi-discipline championships is creating dilemmas for several athletes given the schedule clashes.

  Pidcock plans to race his mountain bike, so is strongly leading towards skipping the road race which comes first and could come at a cost.

  “I don’t want to do both and go home with nothing,” he said. “I’d want to ride the road race because it’s a home race and it will be a super nice experience and I think the worlds is a very special particular race where you never know what will happen.

  “It wouldn’t be a bad thing to ride, I want to ride, but would it be the best thing? I don’t know.”

  :: Tom Pidcock is a Red Bull athlete. Watch him appear in ‘Race Tapes‘, the new Red Bull series that delves into the lives of the world’s leading riders across all disciplines.