Lloyd aims for good end of season, has bigger goals for 2010

Former Australian road race champion Matthew Lloyd has said that he wants to start chasing personal goals in 2010 and beyond, taking a more ambitious approach to competition. The 26-year-old has spent much of this season recovering from a bad crash he suffered in the Amstel Gold race, and also working for Silence Lotto team leader Cadel Evans.

Now he's feeling more like his old self and wants to get in a good end of season prior to building up for what he hopes is a strong year.

"My plan is to do four one-day races in Italy with Cadel and the Silence-Lotto team, the last of which is Giro Lombardia," he said to Cyclingnews recently. "With Cadel being the world champion, the motivation is great. I look forward to finishing the season in good fashion, and am passionate about these last races.

"After that, I'll spend some time back in Australia. I'll be able to do more work to make sure that everything is fine after the crash this year, as I've got great osteopaths and physiotherapists there."

Lloyd has ridden in a support role this year but wants to start chasing personal goals. "When I look to the future, I want to start trying to get more involved and win some big races," he said. "I definitely want to start chasing results – I do like the Classics and I do have ambitions in longer stage races. Obviously that sort of thing takes time, but I would like to target some personal things next year."

The Melbourne rider has been a professional with the Belgian team since the start of 2007 and has taken top-20 results in races such as the Giro di Lombardia and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He was part of the Australian team which backed Evans during the recent road race world championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, and which were rewarded with the first ever elite rainbow jersey for the country. Lloyd was impressed by the result and also with its implications for cycling back home.

"The victory was brilliant," he enthused. "It is unquestionable that there is nobody who demands more of themselves to perform at 100 percent than Cadel. With this depth, and continual maximum effort, it was a fantastic display of strength and character. The team functioned in a world-class manner, and provided the world an insight to the quality of Australian cycling.

"For all Australians, this moment is huge, and will no doubt trigger the further development of our already-beautiful cycling culture."

Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.