As a warm-up for the Worlds we headed to a few kilometres out of town for an Italian National round. We had had the chance to ride a lap of the track the day before so we knew what it would be like. The track was much different to what I had expected, from what others were saying I gathered there was a lot less single track and a fair bit more racing through grassy fields.

    This was definitely the case, even more so than I had expected, the track consisted of mostly mown paths through fields with a small section of technical single track and the rest wound its way through Italian streets. I managed to crack my rear carbon brake lever after losing my front wheel around a grassy off camber turn. We were unable to find a replacement so I switched it with my front in case it fully snapped off during the race. If the front lever snapped at least I could still race.

    I went into the race with some uncertainty, it was my first race in Europe and my first race outside Australia, and I didn’t know who I would be racing against except for those on the Australian Junior team who were also there. I also knew little about the racing format and requirements; it was a whole different and much harder ball game.

    This was more than a normal Italian national round, it not only had the best junior riders Italy could offer but many other countries were also using it as a warm up for the World Championships. The start line had over 120 other racers. With over 120 people all racing to be first into the narrow start corner I will leave it up to you to imagine what it would be like.

    A main goal I set for myself for the race was to resist being intimidated by those around me. This approach was a key to success in these races with such large numbers. If you let yourself be pushed around you will go nowhere but backwards. I passed back a few favours when on two separate occasions two different guys tried either cutting me off or riding me off the track, I simply held my line and held strong against them. Both found themselves towards the back of the field after they hit the deck. That’s just the way this game is played!

    Junior races such as this tend to start ridiculously fast, this was brought to my attention so I held back at the start so was able to come home strong at the end of the race, although not giving away places. I kept consistent throughout the 5 laps and came home very strong. I ended up 10^th overall which I was quite happy with considering the very new environment which I had just been experienced for the first time.