Graeme Brown (Rabobank) wants to go into bat for Australia (Image credit: Steve Thomas)
Following an impromptu exit from the Giro d'Italia, Graeme Brown headed north-west to contest the Tour of Belgium. Steve Thomas caught up with the Australian sprinter to discuss his year to date.
A whole lot of personal hopes for Graeme Brown's season had been placed on performing well in this year's Giro d'Italia. Just a few days before the Sardinian start of the Grand Tour, Rabobank's key sprinter had set his heart on clashing with the best in the Giro, and was hoping to walk away from the three week race with a stage win.
His Giro master plan was far from well executed, with his campaign going pear shaped just three days into the event. "I'd been feeling good before the race," he reflected. "Then on the second night I began to feel a bit sick, but didn't worry about it. We drove down to the race that morning, and I felt worse, but I figured maybe it was a bit of car sickness."
But car sickness it was not, and as the stage rolled on it was clear that he was in some distress. Teammate Leon Van Bon had reportedly already seen the Tour doctor to get some medicine for Brown, but things continued to go downhill. "I was kind of vomiting a little bit, and suffering," recalled Brown. "There were some solid climbs in there. I went off the back, and started seriously vomiting. I really wanted to get through the stage as I knew there was a rest day ahead, which would allow me to recover some."
