Robbie McEwen broke his leg last year and missed several months of competition. Velonation attended the Frankfurt press conference where the Australian reflected about his desires and goals in bike racing, retirement - and having more children.
McEwen admitted that retiring from bike racing had already crossed his mind before. "Two years ago I thought about stopping in 2010." But his bad accident in 2009, when several operations were needed to fix his broken leg, changed his mind. "It was a very long road back, I was out of competition for seven months," McEwen said.
"This time made me stronger and made me realize how much I love cycling. I am lucky to come back to this level." He wants to use the races in the season to build his leg back up, which is not back at 100 percent. Still, he sees progress. " I already won a race this year [Trofeo Mallorca] and was on the podium in a couple of big races." McEwen finished second or third in a few Tour Down Under stages and second in the Scheldeprijs. He also was third in the points classification in the Tour Down Under.
The retirement plan stowed away, McEwen wants to continue at least until next year. " I want to ride through the Worlds in 2011 [Copenhagen, Denmark], as they are flat. This year [in Geelong, in his native Australia -ed.] it is not flat, but it is possible for a sprinter," he added.
Next stop Giro d'Italia
Now everything is pointing towards the Giro d'Italia, where he hopes to do well in the bunch sprints. "I am afraid I am missing a bit of racing rhythm and I really need this race [Frankfurt] to get into the form for the Giro d'Italia." It will be his fourth time here in Germany, with not much success so far. "I haven't yet managed to finish in the front group here. It means that I wasn't as good as I wanted to be but also that the race is very, very tough."
Then there are the motivated home teams. "You see these guys with the blue tops on?" he asked, as he pointed to the table where the Milram riders were seated. "Fabian [Wegmann] won the race last year. He knew what he had to do then and he has to do a very similar thing this year."
For the sprinters, the hills in the Taunus are the decisive point in the race. "Guys like André Greipel and me, we will just be trying to hang on all day long." The only good news for the sprinters is that due to some bad roads the highest point of the race - the Feldberg - has been eliminated. This only cuts out 1.2 kilometers but more importantly 150 meters of elevation gain.
But McEwen is on track for a good May and is feeling quite well after a couple of good weeks of training. "I took a very short break after Paris-Roubaix. This year I rode all of the classics, which I haven't done for a few years." This gives him the base for doing a good Giro.
McEwen was in a good mood and when asked about his family he said things were great. "Two kids are going well, the third one is on the way. That was one of the things I had time for when I was out of bike racing," he added with a sheepish smile. The baby is due in June and McEwen hopes he can greet it with a few Giro stage wins.