Orica GreenEdge rider Cameron Meyer was sitting seventh overall heading into today’s fifth stage of the Presidential Tour of Turkey and is encouraged by how well he is feeling at this point of the season.
The Australian missed several early season races due to a bad saddle sore which necessitated surgery, yet was able to perform strongly two days ago on the decisive mountain top finish to Elmali. He crossed the line in seventh place, 24 seconds behind the Europcar rider Natnael Berhane.
Berhane moved into the race leader’s jersey while Meyer slotted into seventh, 34 seconds behind. He remained there on yesterday’s lumpy fourth stage, and told VeloNation after that finish that he is motivated by how he is feeling despite his lack of racing.
“Good so far. It has been quite a hard race and I was quite pleased I could be up there in the final at the mountain top,” he said. “Again today I felt pretty good at the finish. We will see what stage six can do, if there will be any changes in GC. But so far, so good.”
Meyer is regarded by some as one of Australia’s best young prospects for Grand Tour contention. Last season he finished tenth overall in Tirreno Adriatico and eleventh in the Tour of California. The latter race plus the Tour de Suisse are important for him, not least because he knows that a strong ride in one or both of those could secure him a place in his first-ever Tour de France.
“It’s definitely very encouraging. Yesterday was actually my first mountain day of the season. I had not ridden a mountain that size since the Vuelta of last year,” he said Wednesday evening. “So they are encouraging signs going towards my main goals of the season, California and the Tour de Suisse. I’m happy with how it is going so far.”
In the video below Meyer discusses these points and also his thoughts on his general classification prospects in the days ahead.