NOT even illness could stop Michael Troy from completing last week’s Tour of Gippsland.
The Orange cyclist, who is part of the Torq Bicycle Super Store team, was sick with a cold going into and during the Subaru National Road Series event.
“It was tough. I was crook for a week leading up to it, I was crook during it and I’m still crook,” Troy said.
“It made it tough to get through but I finished.
“Most of it was a kind of racing that didn’t suit my strengths. There were a lot of criteriums. There was a criterium each day and a road race in the afternoon. So it was a lot of short, sharp racing which really wasn’t good for me when I was sick.”
Troy still performed well in the five-day, 495.45km event.
The event was made up of nine stages including a stage on the Philip Island Grand Prix motorcycle racing circuit.
Troy’s best result came in stage seven, a 33km criterium where he finish seventh.
He was able to finish 75th overall after the nine stages.
The Torq/BSS team was able to help Brenton Jones to two podium finishes.
Jones was second in stage four, a 55.2km road race, and third in stage six, a 102km road race.
Troy is back in Orange now and taking a few days off to recover from the tour as well as illness.
“As soon as I’m on the up I’ll be back out on the roads,” he said.
Troy’s next big individual focus in the NSW Road Championships on September 23.
“I won silver in that last year so it would be nice to go one better,” he explained.
“Then I’ll have the Grafton to Inverell (October 27). I was 15th last year and it would be awfully nice to go better this year.”
Troy will also ride with Torq/BSS in the Goulburn to Sydney Cycle Classic on September 16.
“There’s still plenty of racing for the year,” he said.