It's a learning curve that all top cyclists have to go through at one point or another. That is to ride for someone other than yourself.
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For Luke Tuckwell, that experience is happening right now.
The Orange product recently took part in the Bathurst Cycling Classic where he first pulled off a 14th place finish in the hill climb, before bagging 8th in the road race.
"I was pretty happy and took a lot of confidence that yes, I can climb and not be that far away from the best," the 16-year-old Tuckwell said.
"I came into that road race on Sunday with quite high expectations of myself."
But as the teenager gets older, so do the expectations on riders change.
"Our team goal was to help Tom Chester as much as possible," he added.
"So with 20km to go I was playing the team role and fortunately got in a lucky position with 600 metres to go and managed to top 10.
"It's certainly a new experience (riding for someone else) because you don't do it in juniors at all.
"It's the first time I've had to think about how someone else is riding and how I'm going to help them. It's a new learning experience but that's why I'm in a team, to learn."
It seemed he did his job well, with Chester managing a sixth place finish.
The Bathurst race was the first big test for Tuckwell's new way to ride.
"At nationals, because the course is so unrelenting you just can't ride as a team," he said.
"We didn't have team instructions in the criterium and we got to the road race and we had a rider in a good position. That's how a team situation works, you have to sacrifice your chances for another rider who ultimately is stronger than you and has an opportunity to do quite well, which Tom did."
It has certainly been a gruelling couple of months since Tuckwell made the leap to the under 19 level.
"I haven't really had a break from my training since after nationals," he said.
"So I think this week we've pulled it back a bit, just to give my body a chance to recover a bit and get my head and my legs back to a functional training state, because it's been pretty hard for the past three months."
Next up on the agenda is a Wagga Wagga to Albury ride on April 11, before the state criterium later that month.
Neither of the races are Tuckwell's bread and butter, but as he knows, there is more to riding than just his own results.
"I'm sure I will get instructions from my team manager and I can use what I've done in training and my strengths to assist," he said.
"It's been a pretty amazing first three months of the year.
"State championships are usually around August, so the back half of winter is my next big target to be able to peak my form."
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