Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) had a highly successful 2010 season; the 25-year-old Dane successfully defended his Tour of Denmark title, taking it for a third successive year, and finished on the podium of the Tour de Suisse. It was not these two results that he will most remember 2010 for though, he told feltet.dk, but his debut in the biggest race of all.
"I will probably remember that it was the year when I rode my first Tour,” he said. “Andy [Schleck] finished second in the Tour and had a week in yellow. We'll see what the final result is at the end of the Contador affair but, as Andy himself said, he will perhaps not quite be the real winner if he should be awarded the victory. But I will remember it as a good year and the year when I rode my first Tour.
“So, I obviously had some good results,” he added, “but the Tour is probably the biggest thing that has happened and what I will remember for years."
After the Tour, he travelled to his home nation of Denmark once again for the national Tour, where he beat Canadian Svein Tuft (Garmin-Transitions) by 27 seconds; a fairly big margin for a week-long Tour without big mountains. He won the race without winning a stage once again, although he did finish stage 3 side-by-side with teammate Matti Breschel; his victory was a good one but not entirely planned. His other big result in a week-long race was far more satisfying for him though.
"The Tour of Denmark, I had done before.” He explained. “Of course, I came to win again when I was there, but it was not a goal, where I had been planning to be good and 100 percent for a repeat victory. Suisse was a race I had put more into, so of course it is a great result. It is an achievement I'm proud of; with the podium that there was, it could hardly be much better."
Fuglsang was one member of the exodus of Saxo Bank riders who will be following Fränk and Andy Schleck to the new Luxembourg Cycling Project. His preparation for next season is going to plan, he says, but like many others he is affected by the cold winter across northern Europe.
"I started training slowly again in mid-November,” he said. “It has mostly been some mountain bike rides and some rides on the road. I have also been to the gym and I have done some running.
“At our [Luxembourg] team meeting in Crans-Montana, I raced on skis for a few days. It is not so easy to get out at the moment; it is certainly a little dangerous. So you have to be no alternative and find some other things to do. I was able to get out on cross-country skis yesterday [Monday] to do something.
“I try to keep myself going,” he added, “and so it is not so important whether it truly is on the bike or something else. The most important thing is that you keep going and have some basic form when you get to the month of January."