The inside line, with Alan Davis, circa 2006

Long ago from the highlands of Qinghai

In the depths of China we catch up with and shadow super sprinter Allan Davis as he rides to victory in a stage of the Qinghai Lake Tour.

Allan Davis

Spanish based, Aussie sprinter Allan Davis has been at the top of his game for a few years now, winning numerous top European races during this time with the premium level Once and Discovery teams.

The last twelve months have been some of his most successful, and he’s racked up some great performances, including a second place finish in the Milan-Sanremo classic.

Davis is known as a fast finisher, but where he really excels is when the going gets tough. Many sprinters lose their sharpness after a long race, and others lose contact with the leaders after a couple of climbs, but not Allan, this is where he wins out.

The race

It was late July and we were in China for the annual Qinghai Lake Tour, one of Asia’s most important races. The event is held high up on the Tibetan Plateau, meaning that the air is seriously thin, and the climbs are ultra long marathons, which is always a real challenge for the riders.

Allan was there along with his Discovery Channel team, with the hope of grabbing a stage win, and with the aim of a good overall finish for their GC rider Janez Brajkovik. Although following just a few days of preparation and acclimatisation nobody knew how they would deal with the thin air and the climbing – especially on day one; this stage effectively climbed for 80 kilometres without relent to the dizzy heights of Qinghai Lake, almost 3500 meters above sea level.

Pre race

Some teams had been in town acclimatising for a week or so, but not Davis and the Disco boys; “I’d never ridden at any kind of altitude like this before, and it was a real tough surprise. We had been there for 4 days, and ideally we would of ridden really easy on the flat for a few days and then built up to acclimatise. But this place has a lot of mountains, big mountains, and we ended up riding them. I was really struggling; my legs were fine but breathing was another issue.”

Going in to the first stage and it was something of an open bag; it would very much depend on how hard those riders who were well acclimatised would approach the stage, riders like Paco Mancebo from the Relax team, who had been around for well over a week; “I knew it would be really tough. But there were 40 odd kilometres of flat after the climb, so I was open minded. If I could hang on over the climb then I knew I would be about the fastest sprinter there.”

As for pre race preparation; it was pretty standard for Davis; “I always eat about 3 hours before the race. Usually cereals, bread and stuff, but also some protein; like eggs and ham. Then I relax some, stretch and then head to the start. I like to spend some time stretching and focussing, to get in the right mood for he race.”

Flat out

The racing kicked of from the city of Xining at a predictably fast pace, which was tough on the lungs; but for Davis things were to get off on the wrong foot, as within a couple of kilometres of the start he was to flat, and become the first puncture victim of the race; “The thing is not to panic in these situations, otherwise you can fumble. We made a decent wheel change and I got back to the chase. It was really something I could of one without, as the pace was quite high. I’d wanted to take it easy and ride in to the race, but had to ride at max to get back on. I had a team mate come back to help me, but it really hurt the lungs. After getting back on I got close to the front and tried to recover some.”

Surviving the climb

The climbing was pretty well on from the start; but it started in earnest after about 50km, leaving a 20 km grind, followed by a steeper and tougher final 10 km. The gradient was steady, but the altitude takes it’s toll, and the rain set in for a while.

“I knew if I could get to the last 10km of the climb without getting dropped from the leaders then as long as I had team mates around that we had a chance to get back. It was really tough, but I managed to hang in, it didn’t split apart quite as much as I figured, and over the top I found myself not far off the pace, and with team mates around.”

The chase down

Over the top the terrain dipped down for a short while; and then it was 40 km of wide open, straight and windswept riding to he finish. There were two small groups at the head of the race, and Davis was in the second, things were looking promising.

“It was really windy over the top, and then there had been a crash; Janez (Brajkovik) went down, which had effectively dashed his GC chances. I had Fuyu (Li) with me and it was quite a chase down. The race split a lot during the run in, and we had to chase everything down. My thinking was now to save as much energy as possible for the line, and this meant keeping out of the cross wind. But with 5 km to go it was a case of us having to chase every move down.”

The grand finale

The final kilometres of the race were flat and wide open, but there was a slight ride towards the finish, and it was a cross-head wind finish. Timing is everything in these situations; when you can see the line straight ahead it’s all too easy to go too early and find yourself dieing in the wind.

“I’d seen the profile on the race map, and knew it was a bit uphill, which meant leaving it later. But I also know that it’s the kind of finish to suit me. I could see the finish almost 1 km out, and just tried to stay out of the wind and watch the others. There was a big Danish guy who seemed strong; he attacked with 400 meters to go. I waited and got on the wheel. The ideal situation was to come off the wheel with 150 meters to, which rarely happens. By now I was pretty confident, and he group was not too big. I waited until I saw him start to suffer and came off the wheel with 100 meters to go and just kept my head down and things were pretty clear cut, race won.”

The aftermath

It was stage one of a 9-day stage race, and certainly not time to rest on your laurels. First and foremost is to recuperate; “It’s always important to get on the recovery trail as soon as possible after a race, but even more so in a stage race. First thing is to get cleaned and dried off, to avoid catching colds and bugs, this is even more important at such altitudes and in strange lands where you are more open to bugs. I have the podium and interviews to deal with, which slows down the process; but a recovery energy drink is vital, and then within an hour maybe a light snack too. Once the podium is done with it’s back to the hotel to clean up and get a massage before eating and relaxing. Sleeping at these altitude isn’t so easy, but it’s the same for everyone.”

Changing games

With the opening stage under his belt Allan was holding both the yellow leaders jersey and the green points jersey, and plans were forced to change some for him and the team; “You always feel something different when you pull on a leaders jersey. We’d also lost our GC hopes with Janez’s cash. In this position you feel an obligation to fight all you can to keep the jersey, to pay back your team mates for the work they have done,”

Over the next few days Allan was to fight for all his worth to keep the lead. He was to cling on to the leaders jersey until the rain and sleet hammered 4th stage, one of the races toughest mountain tests, only losing it after crash on the slippery run in to the line. But he certainly didn’t leave China empty handed; he took another 4 stage wins and the green jersey home with him.