Following on from a very difficult season, the Irish rider Jack Wilson has spoken about the difficulties he encountered and the decision to revise his plans from the start of the year.
The season started badly for the An Post-Chain Reaction rider when he crashed in the UCI 1.1 Ronde van Zeeland Seaports in March, badly hurting his left shoulder. However, bad luck struck again a few weeks later.
“I was just recovering after the Zeeland crash and I was coming back,” he explains. “I was in one of the Nations Cups, Côte de Picardie in France, coming to the line and got hit in the side and just went head over heels and broke my collarbone and broke my wrist.”
“I thought I was going to get away with just getting an operation on the wrist, but had to get my collarbone operated on as well. So two operations in ten days wiped me out big time.”
He didn’t race again until Gullegem Koerse in June but his form wasn’t where he had hoped.
“When I came back, I sort of panic trained a bit. When I look back on it, I did some stupid things to try and come back, but you just live and learn,” he says.
Earlier in the season, he had spoken about 2015 possibly being his last season trying to move up a level. However, due to his difficulties, he has now reconsidered this.
“The year has been ruined. I said from the end of last year to the start of my winter training, that it’s my last year as an under-23, it’s all or nothing. I’ve had a good think about it and it would be stupid to stop after the season I’ve just had. I’ve had injuries and have been chasing my tail all year. I’ll just maybe give it one more year.”
He says he won’t take the same approach that he did last winter though. “Last winter, I trained too well. I was too into numbers, too into hours. By the end of December, I was cooked. This winter, I’m going to stay calm. Last winter, I was too motivated, way too motivated. I look back now and wonder where that motivation came from.”
Wilson also speaks about his disappointment at not getting a chance to race at the U23 World Championships, due to Ireland not gaining enough points for a team to qualify.
“It was a bit unfortunate for myself as it would have been my last year as an under-23. It would have been real good to go to.”
“Last year, I went (to the Worlds) and looking back I shouldn’t have even been there. I had dislocated my shoulder when I crashed on Stage 2 of the Tour of Britain and broken ribs and I just suffered around it. It was pointless being there. This year, it would have been good to maybe get a proper run at it.”
“Even though I had such bad luck, I could have maybe come out of the Tour of Britain with a bit of form, and even finishing it would have been good. I looked at the circuit and it’s the stuff I love, the short, steep climbs, cobbles. It’s just like Belgium really.”
