Q & A: Dan Tulett Back to his Best

Silver medallist at the World Cyclo-Cross Championships, Dan Tulett talks about his race

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Q & A: Dan Tulett Back to his Best

“It really means a lot” Dan explained when asked about finishing second in the Junior Men’s World Championship Cyclo-Cross Championship.

“I think the result is starting to sink in now after a couple of days, but whenever I see a photo of the podium I have to remind myself that it actually happened.”

Dan was part of a Great Britain 1-2-3 with Tom Pidcock winning and Ben Turner third in a history making result for the country. “I still struggle to believe we got a 1-2-3! The course was definitely the hardest I have ever ridden, with features comparable to a mountain bike course” Dan went on to explain.

“During course practice, it wasn’t so bad, with only a few corners and sections being slippery or technical. However on the day, some early morning rain froze over everything which totally changed the course especially the first corner, which made it almost impossible to ride on the racing line, and it was this that made it really tough.

Asked what his strategy was before the race, Dan replied “My strategy for the race was to try and get a safe start and avoid the first lap carnage, which I just about missed! However from there, I planned to just move up and hold a pace I could maintain to the finish.”

“There was definitely a difference in comfort from the beginning to the end of the race! When I was making up ground, I was really enjoying the race and the course, but once I made it up to the podium places, it all seemed very real. I most definitely felt the pressure from Ben!”

Riding a Specialized cross bike, Dan explained how it was set up. “I didn’t change the set-up of my bike other than using some very soft brake pads for the best braking performance, as well as a slightly harder than usual tyre pressure to race on. I used 19psi as any lower and I would hit the rim quite often on frozen mud, which meant there was a high risk of puncturing”.

“During the race, my bike worked faultlessly. I had no issues whatsoever with it. I didn’t change bikes during the race, but that was because I had quite a bit of time to make up following a steady start, however, if I’d had a bit more distance between me and other riders, I probably would have changed the bike just to play it safe.”

Those of us watching the race were kept on the edge of our seat, especially with the battle between Dan and Ben. Both were having their own challenges as they battled for the silver and bronze medals and crashing was not helping either of them. “There was definitely no time on that last lap to let the achievement sink in” Dan says. “It was never over until it was over. I had a small bit of time to make up to Ben halfway through the last lap, which put me under a lot of pressure.”

“I had quite a few hard crashes during the race, most caught on camera! The frozen surface, combined with ruts and mud made quite a sharp surface to crash on, which really quite hurt. I don’t think they affected me too much though, I think being the world champs it would take quite a bit to have an impact.”

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Racing a World Championship is a pressure cooker and when asked what’s the best thing that’s happened since he finished his race, Dan says “the best thing that’s happened since the race has probably been hopping on my mountain bike again today for the first time in a couple of months! During the summer, I spend most of my time on it, so I guess I missed it a bit!”

“I will have a short break now even though I didn’t do too many cross races this season. I concentrated them into a space of a month and a bit so that I could train and regain fitness again. I think my next major race will be the Junior World XC series in mid March.

My goals for 2017 are to carry on making progress on my fitness and strength, but also to get some solid results on the mountain bike and selection for Worlds would be amazing. I would also like to do some road races this season as it’s been quite a while so I’m eager to get back on the road bike!”

Our thanks to Dan for the interview and good luck for 2017!

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