The team leader is at the top, if he wants a bottle you get him a bottle, if his chain comes off you wait and bring him back to the front again, he gets the choice draft and first dibs, no worries, he won Liege and he's a nice guy.

Next down the hierarchy come the other riders, as soon as the race is over we do as little as possible until the next stage, we are massaged and our bags are carried for us to our rooms. If we want food it is given to us, if we want water it is there. So for a worker bee like me I constantly switch between servant and diva, in and out of the race.

Today however, I decided to be selfish in the race too.

I've been fighting a losing battle with my powermeter all year. I started behind because of a knee injury and I’ve since realised only this morning that it’s highly likely that I now have low iron levels. So instead of training myself fit I've been digging a hole for myself, possibly for quite some time. The race doctor took a look at me for about 3 seconds, specifically at the bit of red flesh you can see under the eye when you pull your cheek down with your index finger. Mine was yellow instead of red, which is a sign of low iron content apparently.

I will need to have a proper blood test to confirm and to see how bad it really is. I can’t just go and take iron tablets straight away as it’s easy to take too much. At the minimum it will be a week or two off the bike but it could be months if it’s really bad. To be honest it’s a relief more than anything, the numbers on the SRM were playing games with me, when I covered them up I felt better again but only because I train alone so had no yardstick. Now that I have competed in a race that I know I should do well in and got my arse handed to me it has finally confirmed all my suspicions from the last few weeks. It’s relief more than anything. I abandoned after 50km, having followed a few early attacks and got some bottles for the team, I could have carried on and done the same thing tomorrow but why dig the hole any deeper? My iron levels started increasing the moment I got off the bike and ate some food.

It’s a strange feeling getting dropped and still being able to talk at the same time, I’ve been breathing without difficulty which chucks the hay fever theory out of the window. I was explaining to one guy on the CCN team “I’m getting dropped right now!” he was a little surprised. It explains my inability to go into the red for more than a minute before having to slow down for a good while to recover. It explains why I had to stop at the side of the road whilst training the other week. It explains why I haven't got within 30w of my best average power values for intervals between about 3 & 20 minutes, in some cases it’s more like 70w. It looks so stupid in hindsight, the signs were not so obvious at the time though.

On stage 3 we had 3 riders in the top ten, stage 4 (today) was won by Roberto, the team tried their best to launch Rebellin on the final climb but it was to no avail, they dropped the whole peloton except for the leader and a few others. He is still in 2nd place at 4 seconds, tomorrow is a flattish stage so it looks unlikely that he will wrestle the GC away. There are time bonuses of 10,6 and 4 seconds for the top 3 on the stage, if he can win and have the current leader come 3rd or lower then he will win.

This stage race has seen the team really ride properly for the first time as a team, it feels a lot like when Pasta Montegrappa – Zheroquadro won the tour of Kent last year, it was like clockwork. It’s very disappointing that I played a much smaller part than I could have. The team overall is really happy and I am trying not to upset the balance too much.

Dave,

Some photos of Roberto immediately after his win:

Stage one: Ancient Corinth to Leonidion – 138k

Something gelled on our team today, it was great to race as a single unit. We had someone in every move, the one I got into looked promising-ish until I went over a railway crossing and punctured my front tub, although to be fair only one other rider in our group of seven appeared to be committed. Roberto also punctured on the same crossing so it took a while for us both to change wheels; we got back into the peloton again without too much trouble though.

Then Mariano got into a break that lasted a lot longer, meanwhile the rest of us just sat behind the chasing teams and relaxed, I also fulfilled my bottle fetching duties with aplomb. After about 50k we hit the coast, it was flat for a while as we went along a bay but then the coast road began to get twisty and hilly. Once Mariano returned we tried to get away again and get into breaks, the bunch splintered and so Rebellin, who had been drafting patiently decided to close a gap himself. He closed it so fast that he only dragged a couple of people with him and so formed a break of seven riders once he arrived across said gap. The rest of us totally shut the race down after that and Davide stayed away to contest the finish.

The description of the finish in the race book stated that there was a single bend with 1200m to go. The reality was rather different; there were several very tight bends in the last 2k, two of which were off road on gravel. We also crossed a dry river bed, also full of gravel, the only riders that knew about it were probably Greeks, I suppose it’s a way to make sure they get a good result.

Davide ended up coming second to a guy from Slovenia in a two up sprint, third spot was around a minute behind. It’s probably good that he came second, it means we don’t have to defend the jersey tomorrow; there are bigger climbs to come on which he can strike.

As for me well I was quite happy to get in a break, get bottles and also mark lots and lots of crucial moves. I think I did my job admirably even if I say so myself. I was struggling a tad towards the end but would have finished safely in the bunch had it not been for the off road sections, as it was I was a few seconds down. It was hot and I finished with my jersey caked in salt.

I think that I may have developed hay fever this season, it’s the only explanation I can find for my inability to go deep into the red and my significant reduction in power for efforts over my threshold. I always used to have it a little bit but I’ve been waking up with a runny nose for weeks now and I don’t feel ill. It’s all very confusing and just a theory, not quite sure what to do to conclusively test for it either.

Stage two: Leonidion to Sparta – 135k

We started the same way we finished the previous day along the coast, then turned inland up to almost 900m before descending to the finish in Sparta. The plan was to get one of us in the break of the day so that we didn’t have to chase. It worked great, Alberto attacked at the start and got away with one other guy and they stayed away for around 110km or so. The team with the current leader is a Continental team called Vorralberg Corratec, they had to work hard on the front all day to stop the gap getting too large. Once Alberto was caught we launched another flurry of attacks.

Enrico managed to get away with a few others, they stayed away to the finish, Enrico won the sprint and Alberto took the mountains jersey for his earlier efforts (he finished in the peloton, Rebellin remained in second on GC, also in the peloton with the GC leader. Suddenly the team has switched into gear and everyone is very happy with how it's all working, Enrico is a great captain and I am learning more about tactics than I ever thought I could.

Before Alberto was caught it began to rain, quite a while before we reached the highest point in the stage. We had a super-fast descent on nice, wide roads, I wasn’t comfortable however. Just because I am tall it doesn’t mean I am heavy, I think the team mechanics must have overestimated my weight by a good 10kg. I didn’t care at the start in the bright sunshine but my wheels were inflated far too high. I could feel the lack of grip on the bends so took it easy, at one point, despite my tiptoeing on the corners I braked too hard coming into a bend. I only used my front brake but the lack of weight on the rear caused it to skip out. I held onto it and decided just to let the peloton go in the last 7-8k. By the time I reached the bottom of the descent with around 3k to go I was still being passed by the convoy, I dug in and managed to pursuit my way to behind the second following car, the bunch were only 20m away, the two cars went through the last two bends so slowly that they let a gap open up to the accelerating peloton. I finished just behind the group, probably only losing about 30 seconds. I shall have to ride with lower pressure tomorrow, luckily it only cost me some time rather than skin and bones.

On the plus side I think my hay fever (if it is hay fever) is a little better, partly because of the rain I assume.

We are in a nice hotel in Sparta now, currently I am reading a book called Mani, it is about a man’s travels into the most remote peninsula of Greece. It is jam packed with stories, customs, history and so on - for example, warring families used to fight each other for years on end, often whilst living in the same village. They would build towers right next to each other and drop rocks on each other. If you ever go to Greece I recommend taking this book with you. It's a shame the tour doesn't head that way but as I understand it there is still basically only one proper road down there.

Here is a photo of Enrico immediately after the stage:

Here we all are the day before the start:

From left to right: Enrico Rossi, Roberto Casero, Davide Rebellin, Alberto di Lorenzo, Mariano Giallorenzo and myself.

Some links:

I wrote some more satire for Cyclismas: http://cyclismas.com/2012/05/uci-con...ecks-for-atoc/.

Why Rapha is called Rapha: http://inrng.com/2012/05/original-rapha-history/.

A brilliant eBay description for a turbo trainer, I know the feeling: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISA...7#ht_657wt_932.

This is the peak of televsion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZgVkP6o6Ig, a man jumping on eggs. It's deeply unimpressive, deeply.

Coming up next week is the Tour of Hellas, it's 5 days of hilly road stages starting on Wednesday in ancient Corinth. Watch this space for reports -assuming I have internet access- otherwise observe Twitter or Facebook for much shorter reports.

Oh, and Davide Rebellin is joining the squad and will be riding with us in Greece, I suspect I will be bottle fetcher from now on.

My blog is on tour this week - I have written about Greece and Rebellin on the acclaimed Velo Veritas website: http://www.veloveritas.co.uk/2012/05...gtourofhellas/.

Of course everyone seems to have private sponsors now, it's doesn't seem like a coincidence to me that we shall be changing from Prestigio bikes to Guerciotti ones, the very same brand Rebellin was using with Miche in 2011. My bike will be stickered up for Greece, hopefully the new bike will arrive at a time that gives me a chance to get used to it before the next race. which will probably be Slovakia.

Since I now have a serious website I have to write serious blog posts, so no more silliness whatsoever. I am transferring my silliness to my new chums at Cyclismas, here is my first contribution: http://cyclismas.com/2012/05/feature...shenkos-diary/.

I was aiming for this demographic, it's a small one but I think I nailed it:

It appears my interview in Pez is getting my name out there a bit which is nice, if you haven't read it yet it's here: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fu...42&status=True.

In other news the little Columbian who won the Giro stage today used to ride for Meridiana:

Good work Chavez!

No links this week so here is a video of the Sky service course, very professional:

It's been a tough couple of weeks as anyone who read my last report (and the one before that) will tell you.

Anyone with a powermeter that is frustrated by how much lower the numbers are than they should be just do the following:

No power, no problem. Of course I can look at it afterwards but it's important to train on feel, and it's even more important to feel good. So far it has worked.

Not much else to report this week but for those wanting their fill of blog related musings please read this interview between me and Ed Hood of Pez: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fu...42&status=True.

And now onto the links section, quite a few interesting ones this week, sadly mostly doping related though I'm afraid.

Read this crazy report on the massively disorganised Tour of Korea: http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/...support_215643. It's just the sort of thing you don't want to have happen in a stage race.

Rabobank tolerated doping from 1996 until 2007: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rabo...de-rooy-claims. I think what should have happened was that Rabo should have pulled their sponsorship in 1996 and be done with it. Since they decided not to this was the best option. It's a question of damage control in terms of PR and also in terms of stopping your stupid desperate riders from killing themselves with EPO and a cocktail of all sorts of other potentially dangerous drugs.

Just out of interest the doctor who worked for them during that period, Geert Leinders, now works for Sky... I know, I know ... just do what the UCI do and try not to think about it.

Britain and British people are good and upstanding citizens though, at least they used to be. Watch this great video about bicycle manufacture in the Raleigh factory in 1946. It is absolutely fantastic: http://film.britishcouncil.org/how-a-bicycle-is-made, why can't more PR films be like this? I really like the father and son thing and all the heavily scripted questions.

10.6% of the riders participating in the Giro have been involved in a doping scandal: http://www.cyclisme-dopage.com/chiffres/giro2012.htm!

It's great news for cycling that Orica have decided to sponsor GreenEdge. I can't but wonder why though. Here is the press release on their website: http://www.orica.com/BUSINESS/COR/or...enEDGE_cycling. The only reason I can see for them sponsoring the team isn't to generate public awareness of their products, I mean their potential clients aren't exactly the general public, being an explosives and mining company. Either it is another Riis like sponsorship - i.e. largely because someone at Orica is a massive cycling fan or they intend to use their sponsorship as an opportunity to woo potential clients with VIP treatment at cycle events such as the tour. If it is the latter then I don't think it is particularly cost effective (9 million euros per year), I reckon it is a bit of both to be honest.

I race against this team all the time, perhaps Leinders can get a job there once Sky fire him? http://www.atwistedspoke.com/pellizo...-neighborhood/.

Stephen Roche is so deeply in the doping closet he has resorted to solving cycling's other problems first: a ban on unzipped jerseys and christmas presents hung round your neck: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/step...age-of-cycling.

For those that don't know who Stephen Roche is, here is a photo:

It's a shame he's gone insane, I met him in 2010 and he seemed a nice enough guy. Good riposte from Vaughters here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vaug...-bigger-issues.

Here is a great article about who actually watches cycling on TV: http://inrng.com/2012/05/pro-cycling-audience-analysis/. It's funny that the only real reason most people watch it is for the scenery and then most of those people are housewives and retired folk. In that case who cares about doping?

If the cycling governing body of your country doesn't want to pick dopers for the national squad then it doesn't want to pick dopers - simple. If the olympic selection committee of your country doesn't want dopers though then that's a problem: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sanc...-fci-president.

Sorry, far too many doping stories this week. I tried to punctuate it with other stuff but it can be difficult sometimes!

I am not one for excuses, in fact I hate excuses but it cannot be denied that this season of mine is going pretty badly. This last weekend was no exception. Yes, sorry it's another miserable blog post.

On Saturday I rode the UCI 1.1 GP Industria e Artigianato in Tuscany. It was hot, very hot, and a break of 22 riders softly clipped off the front at the start, only Meridiana and the Dutch national team didn't have someone in the move so we chased. The gap quickly went down from 4 minutes to a more manageable gap which eventually closed. I actually felt fine in the bunch despite the speed, as soon as I went above my threshold on the second climb of the day however I just couldn't turn the pedals anymore, I was sort of shell shocked at how badly I reacted to the effort and just went straight out the back with the others. It was a strange feeling, we abandoned after only 90 minutes of racing. It was a bit pathetic really. There were only 23 finishers, even Di Luca abandoned in the end, I think it was just a deceptively hard race. I'm not 100% sure it was just the heat, perhaps I am still recovering from my really hard rides earlier in the week. Either way it was a wasted opportunity as I wasn't firing on all cylinders as I had hoped, I hate doing these post mortems on such poor performances but they must be done.

The next day (yesterday) was Giro della Toscana, another 1.1. In the olden days there used to be a race for each region in Italy and they were extremely prestigious. Toscana is one of the last ones along with Lombardy, Reggio Calabria and a few others. The field was similar to the day before only with the addition of BMC, headed up by Ballan. Ballan went on to win the race but I must admit of all the famous riders I have ridden with he is the one that I was the least star struck by. He honestly looks like he only started cycling last week given how ungainly he appears on a bicycle. His gears were crunching everywhere and despite his team spending most of the day chasing he seemed to have trouble holding his position on the climbs at least when I was in the race, it was bizarre. Obviously he is a good rider, just look at his results, I just have no idea how he does it.

Anyway, it rained from start to finish, we started with a climb of around 200m, before we even had a chance to clip in the first part of the race was over. The big teams weren't interested in orchestrating the usually hotly contested early breakaway, 2 riders disappeared straight away and we rode slowly for around an hour before the chase began. I felt fine in the bunch on the climbs once we got going but on the last bend of the longest descent of the day at around 100km I fell off. Someone had already come off and the rider in front of me reacted to it, he came off and took me out with him. It was one of those falls where you take a long time to come to a halt, I was completely disorientated, ragdolling, sliding and rolling along, the next thing I knew I was sat up with my back against a dumpster. These giant bins in Italy have large foot pedals you can operate to open the lid so as not to get your hands dirty. Every time I put my arms down to push myself up the lid would raise instead of me. I saw that my bike was all twisted and thought better of continuing, at that moment another rider fell off just as I was picking myself up. It just wasn't worth it, the team car gave me a lift to the feed zone a few kilometres away. It would have been a long chase back to the peloton, almost every corner had a new crash victim and a queue of team cars behind it. There were 20 crashes in all and I think most of them happened in the particular stretch that I had come down in, apparently the guy I basically landed on broke his collar bone.

Luckily I don't appear to be too badly hurt so I should be able to resume training tomorrow for Hellas in a couple of weeks. I just need a clean run at a race, Hellas is a 5 day 2.2 so all being well I should be able to do something there, I will have 5 chances. I haven't had a clean run at a UCI since Calabria in February, something has to go right at some point.

Just one link, this video (if you haven't seen it already) of cool and calm in the face of adversity mixed with some passionate commentary:

p.s. I briefly reached the magical 100 follower mark for twitter the other day, alas now I am down to 99 again.