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This is the final part of an interview with Allan Davis from May 2016. He was a cyclists with a distinguished career; recruited by the Mapei development team as a teenager, he moved from Bundaberg in Queensland to Italy… and onward to Spain.

He is now living in the Basque Country and enjoying riding his bike again. 

We covered a range of topics in the 45 minute discussion.

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Allan Davis interview: Part 01Part 02

 

(Part three begins at the 30 minute mark of the SoundCloud file.)

 

– Photos: Yuzuru Sunada

 

And you joined Orica-GreenEdge for the debut season and all sorts of things happened. I don’t want to upset you, let’s be clear. I am interested in making sure that the people who respond in a broader sense, who have received the story that you told but not the extras that happened after nine days, know the details. We reference it because it is 10 years ago and I’ve spoken with Jörg Jaksche about his experience and he’s really open and honest about it, so we do get a clear insight of what went on. It was quite amazing. It was quite ridiculous. And it is upsetting for you to concede that you were stained by that. And even people when they’re listening (reading) this, even with your explanation, are still going to be negative.

“Yeah. I’ve learned to live with it, eh?

“Nothing has been said about it for a long time. I haven’t spoken about it for years. This is the first time in a couple of years that I’ve actually had a talk about it again. But that’s just what happens.

“And I understand. People obviously get hurt with these sorts of issues and a lot of times, like I said, the truth is not printed; like in my case with this process with Operaciòn Puerto – that’s now closed – but it wasn’t printed that I was cleared. It wasn’t in the newspaper and that’s the sad thing about these sorts of events for the innocent. You’re guilty until proven innocent.”

 

We’ve seen it [in 2016] with Simon Yates and there’s many, many examples.

“Yeah. And he’ll be answering the same questions in 10 years time, mate. I can assure you. Just because of a paperwork mistake within the team.

“That’s just part of professional sport and being in the limelight as a professional, unfortunately.”

 

 

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We’re talking about five days after Michael Rogers retired. I talked to him that day about his experiences. In the topic of conversation was his clenbuterol positive… you’ve known him very well, you’ve been close throughout your professional careers and his has just come to an end. He was telling me about his experience with the clenbuterol charge where he said, ‘It’s a magnifying glass and you’re underneath and sometimes it actually really burns and it’s really difficult to come out on the other side…’

I think what happened 10 years ago still, unfortunately – even though our relationship, our knowledge of one another goes back almost 20 years – there’s a reference point 10 years ago which put a stain on your name. It’s not really ‘Glory Days’ sometimes is it? Sport is kind of shitty as well.

“Yeah. It definitely is.

“I suppose you get thrown into circumstances that you have nothing to do with and obviously being a part of a team that had guys fully involved in [doping], well with the general manager getting arrested everyone is a part of it.

“As soon as you’re in that team – if you’re a mechanic or a soigneur or a rider or press officer – you’re automatically involved, aren’t you? That’s just part of professional sport and I suppose cycling more than anything.

“For me, I could handle it personally. The hardest bit was my family.

“I’ll cop it on the chin, whatever. I’ll wear it and I can talk about it but for it was hard because it affected the family.

“I’ve got kids, a mum, a dad, a sister, a partner. Why should they have to suffer as well? That’s what really hurt me personally. I got really angry with people when it was straight after it happened, especially journalists who didn’t print the whole story. Maybe it was in really small letters that I had nothing to do with it. But that was the hardest bit for me personally, how it affected the people around me, not having control – not being able to control that because of the negative publicity – that really hurt.

“It f—ing burnt. Under the microscope, that burnt me.

“But water has gone under the bridge now and obviously, like I said, I haven’t spoken about it for years. No one has said anything, everyone has sort of forgotten about it. And it’s just a part of my life, I suppose now, is answering these questions.”

 

 

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There’s a lot more to it. I don’t imagine that you go to bed now thinking – as you’re introducing people to cycling – about all of that shit that you went through… Let’s be clear, what we’re talking about is your rediscovery of the bike, I think that’s a big theme of this discussion in the broader context. You don’t go to bed thinking about all the troubles, you go to bed thinking about all the halcyon times. We’re talking now via Skype and we’ve had a couple of brief encounters at the Tour Down Under in the last two years but the last time we actually sat down and shared a beer together was on the day you became the bronze medallist on 3 October 2010. You bought me a beer at the bar and, you might recall, it was a big night. A lot of things happened that day.

“Yeah. It was a pretty special moment in my career. Having the world championships in Australia as a rider you’re lucky if you can get that in your lifetime; an opportunity to race a world championships in your own country. It was a major goal of mine for the whole year.

“Everything was going well leading into the race at the Vuelta and the Tour of Poland and all the other races before the worlds and I was lucky enough to be on the podium that day in Geelong, in front of a home crowd.

“It was something special and I’ll never forget it.

“To be able to have a beer with all my mates or my family who I don’t see all year round while I’m living in Europe on the other side of the world. That was really special.”

 

And this is the memory that’s best left behind, isn’t it? Not the anger and frustration that you described earlier when you get upset about things. We just talked [recently] to Michael Rogers about his retirement but you and I have never been able to dissect your career. But they were largely parallel for a very long time. You didn’t win time trial world titles but you had a few top 10s in the worlds [road race] and you’ve had a podium in Milan-San Remo and you’ve done big things. When you cast your eye back over the span – and we have gone from the beginning to the end in our discussion – what’s the highlight for you? What’s ‘The Race’? Or what’s ‘The Moment’ that mattered, as a bike rider, to you as a professional?

“I think it was what we touched on before, the worlds [in Geelong 2010]. I’ve been asked this question quite a few times over here as well with the local press. That day at the world championships, being on the podium in Australia, would have to be it.

“I won 31 bike races as a pro. All of them have got something special about them.

“Not only winning are highlights. I have great memories of helping other guys win as well, just being a good team-mate; helping climbers out on climbs when I shouldn’t have been in there. I’ve had good days on the climbs and those days stick in my mind as well, you know? Where it’s just a good feeling – you’ve helped a team-mate achieve a dream and those days stick in my mind.

“Looking back on my career, I’d have to say Geelong was The Day out of all the results. If I had to pick one out of all of them that would have to be the day that was probably a little bit higher than the rest.”

 

 

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Let’s say it was The Halcyon Time for the same of the discussion. When you’re feeling shit, do you bring yourself back to that? Do you play a sequence over in your head to remind yourself of what was so good?

“Sometimes I do, yeah.

“Family are pretty much the first cab off the rank when I’m feeling down or whatever, a memory of my kids. That’s sort of what makes me happy, remembering special days with them. But from my career side of things, definitely that day and the Commonwealth Games [in Delhi] as well which was a week after that day in Geelong. Winning that was another unique day in my career.

“Being raised in Bundy all I knew about was Commonwealth Games, Olympics and State of Origin. So it wasn’t like I’d be representing the Maroons at ‘Origin’ so I had to get a gold medal and to sing my national anthem, it was always a childhood dream – representing Australia – so that was another one that I think back on regularly.”

 

How’s your command of Indian?

“Not good.” [Laughs]

 

Are you still learning? Are you still expanding? Do you ever imagine that you might go back to Delhi and have a crack at learning another language?

“Nah mate. I know how to order a curry and that’s about it.”

 

We’ve gone back to languages and we talked about it earlier so let’s finish because it’s been a long chat that was born out of a discussion about holidays. And I’ve talked too much so sorry about that. But we did say that you’d tell us about why you would end up on this amazing ride around the world when you’re just a brother in Bundy who lives with a father called ‘Froggy’ and a huge and passionate cycling family.

To conclude: how do you remember the beginning of your cycling?

“Well, it all started for me watching Dad and our uncles.

“My brother and sister were riders as well and we used to travel, sometimes I think on purpose… Dad was really good as a young rider. And then he stopped and had us kids and then he got riding again in his early-30s. Sometimes I wonder, and I will ask him, why he did start riding again and start competing at a pretty serious level in Australia in those days while working full-time.

“I’m pretty sure that it was so we could travel around and get cycling in our blood as kids.

“That’s how it started for us. We used to go around and watch dad race, watch our uncle race.

“Our grandfather raced as a professional as well, on the track, so it’s been in the family for many generations. And my brother [Scott] and I, we wanted to race. We were there watching Dad race and he wouldn’t let us until we were 10 years old. So my brother, who is a year older, started the year before me and then when I was 10 I started.

“We used to go away watching Dad and then it became racing in the younger grades. That’s where it started and eventually dad stopped his career – he won a world Masters title in Brisbane. He did a lot of good track racing, wheelraces and all that sort of stuff, the good old-fashioned Australian track carnivals which I really loved – and still do. I used watch Dad ride wheelraces all over Queensland and northern New South Wales while he was working fulltime.

“Eventually he stopped racing and became our coach and we started our careers. He got us to where we are today and obviously Mum used to make all our riding clothes and the three of us would all become Australian champions and world medallist – my brother has been a world champion, I’ve been on the podium – so that’s how it was. It’s been in the family.

“It’s been a good ride, a really good ride. It’s been very healthy.

“I think for adolescents, having cycling there in our teenage years and putting our attention into that, put us on a good path for later on in life.”

 

It’s been enjoyable being part of that ride, Allan. You call me ‘Rob’ and I call you ‘Alby’ and it feels like we’re signing off as old mates but I feel that we could go on for a long time and we’ve made that obvious in this discussion but let’s sign off on this little chat and we’ll hear about your holidays when other people have had them.

“Yeah. That’d be great. Thanks for the talk mate. It’s been good.”

 

– Interview by Rob Arnold

 

Allan Davis interview: Part 01 • Part 02

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