Hi everybody, I’m writing this just before the National road-race on Sunday.

The build up for the Nationals went really well. I’ve had a great training program going into both events, the time trial and road-race. The courses are the same as last year and they both suit me really well.

We have a great team going into the races and I think we will both have some good results either way it goes. It’s normally a bit hard to race well all year round and having this race so early is complicated.

As regards time trial training, I don’t plan most of my work on the TT bike. It’s not easy and I think its takes too much from the other two goals - training for a season and the road race. I like to focus more on that as my overall season is my main goal. Winning would be super at the Nationals but it is not worth my whole season.

I’m better now then last year, that’s for sure. I think it will be good going into the road race. You need luck and I had that also last year. So if I have the same luck as last year it’s going to be a great time for me. But anything can happen on the day and it won’t be easy as there are only three of us [Hansen, Michael Rogers, Mark Renshaw] who have to take control if something goes against our team.

The Nationals do come at a tricky time, very soon after Christmas. I did have Christmas day off which was the first day off I’d had. But I trained on New Year’s Eve and New Year ’s Day. Keeping together is important as a lot can be lost very quickly.
The countryside round my home town of Cairns where I’ve been training is very special. For people who aren’t from Australia it feels like one big zoo. If you visited for two weeks and saw something different every day you would still miss a lot.

There are so many things for tourist to see and the nature is so nice and incredible. It’s worth the time for a good visit, that’s for sure. Allan [Peiper, Columbia sports director from Australia] calls it God’s country, and it really is.

It’s important for the rest of the year to get a win motivation-wise, but only in some ways. I think that depends more on the rider. If you have the jersey that’s pretty important because you’re reminded every time you put it on. It could also single you out if you’re in a breakaway or something too, but it’s always nice to have the jersey, that’s for sure, too!