News: James Shaw’s Debut in WorldTour

The countdown for James Shaw’s debut as a professional for Lotto Soudal continues ahead of the Tour Down Under

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News: James Shaw’s Debut in WorldTour

Lotto Soudal Team News
James Shaw is about to start his first season as a professional rider and it’s in a WorldTour team, Lotto Soudal. Only a few years after he was winning classics as a Junior, the 20-year-old British rider, who has already spent two years in Lotto Soudal’s Under 23 team, got a taste of the pro existence as a trainee with the WorldTour team at the end of 2016.

Now, he’s a fully paid up member of the Lotto Soudal squad and next week, he’ll be racing in the World Tour event, the Tour Down Under. James has been in Australia for a few days now and his pro début is getting ever closer.

“I took some time to get over the jetlag, but now my body clock is running on Adelaide time” he explained on his team’s website. “It’s my first time ever in Australia and I like it. As far as the weather is concerned it’s a huge difference with the cold in Europe at the moment. It’s a weird feeling having high temperatures in January, that doesn’t seem right. But it’s not too hot yet. Today, was the first time the temperature rose above thirty degrees.”

“During our spare time, we already had some time to look around here in Adelaide. I bought a postcard to send home to my parents. Adelaide is a beautiful city and not too crowded. You are close to the beach and hills. It’s wonderful to enjoy a coffee under the sun during our training rides. During one of our training rides, Rafael Valls pointed out a koala who was chilling in a tree. It was exciting to see such an animal in its natural habitat.”

“During the first few days, we took it pretty easy to get used to the time difference and the climate, but the past few days, we have done training rides four hours or more. We did a recon of a few of next week’s stages as well and rode the last fifty kilometres of the second stage and went to see the start and finish of stage four.”

“Those recons made me even more excited to race next week although I’m really nervous for my first WorldTour race. I hope to come out a stronger and better bike rider. I’m lucky to have a wealth of experience around me, with riders like Lars Bak and Thomas De Gendt who are more than willing to share their knowledge”.

“Thomas, who has already ridden the Tour Down Under five times, has been giving advice on the stages. Sean De Bie is my roommate here and I already know him fairly well because for the past two years, when I was riding for the U23 team, we occasionally met up for a ride as he didn’t live too far away. I’m starting a new and big adventure, but the fact that I’m surrounded by such a nice team will dampen the shock.”

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