Yorkshire rider finally got his chance to hit the big time, and took it
Russell Downing was consistently one of Britain’s top performing domestic riders for many years. Performances in the Tours of Britain and Ireland while riding for Continental team Pinarello, which became CandiTV-Marshalls Pasta, showed that he was good enough to take on any ProTour riders that ventured into the British Isles; at the age of 31 though, he was finally given the chance to take on the best in the World in some of the World’s biggest races.
He signed a one-year contract with the new Sky Professional Cycling Team for 2010, and was not about to waste the opportunity. A successful year, which included some of the biggest wins of his career, meant that he was offered another contract for 2011.
“Last winter I did worry a bit if I was going to be able to step up psychologically,” said Downing. “I’ve always felt I was capable of riding at ProTour level, and that’s always been my goal, but I have been left deflated in the past when I’ve won races on the continent but have still not been offered a major contract.
“Thankfully, when Team Sky was formed I managed to get a place on the squad and was not going to let that chance pass me by.”
His first ever season in the ProTour started early too, as part of the Sky team at the Tour Down Under in January. Although he didn’t get any results for himself, he played a big part in the podium places of New Zealander Greg Henderson and the stage victory of Australian CJ Sutton.
On the way back to Europe he rode the Tour of Qatar, helping the team to its victory in the opening team time trial. His first personal victory was not long in coming though, as he took the short second stage of the Critérium International in Porto Vecchio, Corsica. The win, in a race organised by Tour de France organiser ASO, may have had an influence on the decision to invite the Sky team to the big race in July.
“My first win for Team Sky at the Critérium International confirmed I was worthy of my place and that probably ranks as my highest point of the season,” he said. “I’d had a few chances before then at the Tour of Murcia which I perhaps didn’t capitalise on, so it was an incredible feeling to eventually get off the mark.”
A third place in stage 2 of the Tour de Picardie, in May, helped him to fourth place overall in the race; this was followed in June by second place in stage three of the Ster Elektrotoer. While most of the World was watching the Tour de France in late July though, Downing was taking the biggest win of his career at the Tour de Wallonie. A victory that he describes as: “especially pleasing given the amount of riders we had there.
“We had only started the race with five guys,” he explained, “and illnesses midway through to Greg Henderson and Kurt-Asle Arvesen meant that by the final stage there was only myself, Mat Hayman and Nicolas Portal left. I’d ridden into contention the day before and then Nico and Mat both put in huge shifts for me before I managed to take the stage and overall win.
“The fact that we’d gone under the radar in that race made the victory all the more satisfying.”
His one personal regret for the season is that he was overlooked for all three of the Gran Tours: the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.
“It would have been nice to ride a Grand Tour and I think if the Vuelta a España hadn’t clashed with the Tour of Britain it could have been a different story,” he said.
“The management wanted me to focus on that race instead, but as it turned out I wasn’t in great shape after crashing a few days before it in the Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen. The team still rode really well for Greg Henderson in the end though and I will hopefully get a shot at a Grand Tour ride next season instead.”
With much of the hype around the start up of Team Sky focusing on the ambitions of its big stars, particularly Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France, many observers have described its first year as a flop. This is not so, says Downing, and there are many positives to be taken from the British team’s first year.
“I think a few reporters have been a little harsh in saying we’ve not had a brilliant year,” he said, “but they seem to have forgotten it’s been our debut season and we’ve still come up with 22 wins.
“A lot of those writers will no doubt be basing their assumptions purely on our performance at the Tour de France, but as anyone with a proper understanding of cycling will know, it’s almost impossible to come up with the goods in a race like that at the first time of asking.”
Wiggins’ Tour de France did not go to plan, with the 2009 fourth place finishing a disappointing 24th; results from the less-hyped Downing, Henderson and Sutton, as well as the continuing development of Edvald Boasson Hagen, Geraint Thomas and Ben Swift augur well for the team in 2011 though.
“We learned a lot from what happened there though,” he said, “and I think everyone on the team now has a far better understanding of where we need to be, and how we need to approach it next time around.”