Bradley McGee's European pro racing career wrapped up Sunday at the Circuit Franco-Belge. The Australian rider abandoned, but he was keeping a sense of humor about his experience.
"My last European race was as perfect as could be. It's simply the worst ever: Bad shape, the worst weather conditions and then I was dropped and had to abandon," laughed McGee a couple of days after the race according to the team's website www.teamcsc-saxobank.com. "My head just wasn't in this race with this weather."
McGee will do his final race back home in Australia at the Herald Sun Tour. "The only reason I'm still racing at this point is Sun Tour. It's in Australia and I've been looking forward to doing it and finishing my career there and there's no doubt my head's in this race one hundred percent. It's the perfect opportunity for me to say my goodbyes," said McGee.
"I'm just playing the role as a rider for this one and I'm going to enjoy my last days on that side of the fence. Enjoy being taken care of as a rider – and then next year I'll swap roles so I'll be the one looking after the other riders. It'll be a huge change so now I just want to enjoy these next few days."
McGee is slated to become a sport director for his team after he hangs up his racing wheels. He's filled those shoes just once before.
"In 2002 I was down here [in Australia] with Française des Jeux and something went wrong and all of a sudden we found ourselves without a sports director. I wasn't in the best of shape that year so I decided to take on the role. As it turned out we won the race with Baden Cooke and at the time I said that it was the most physically and mentally demanding I'd ever done. I've never been so tired in my life, but of course I'd never tried it before and probably put too many resources into it. But it's probably a good experience to have had so I know a little bit about what to expect next year."
In the mean time, he is setting his sights on one Sun Tour "special stage" with a climb at the end. McGee expects it to weed out the sprinters, giving him a chance at one last stage win and ending his career with a good result.
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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
