On May 3rd, 2013, Tour De France stage winner Tyler Farrar prepared for the Tour of California by racing at the Marymoor Velodrome. We asked 17-year old Thorsten Askervold to share what it was like to have a chance to race with one of the best sprinters in the world.
Two weeks ago I had an amazing opportunity to race with one of the world’s most amazing sprinters. I never knew I would get this great of an opportunity unless I raced in the big leagues; however on May 3rd Tyler Farrar on Garmin Sharp swung by and challenged the locals. When I heard that he was stopping by, my heart rate probably reached 200, and I could not get it off my mind, no matter what I was doing. I mean who gets the opportunity to race a Tour de France stage winner?
That day there were tons of spectators and riders there to see Tyler Farrar racing, so that was definitely a key motivator for me, as well as having a chance to try and beat Tyler himself on a sprint!
Like every other night at the Velodrome there were three races. The first race being the scratch race, second being a point’s race, and last being another scratch race.
It was on the second race where I was the most competitive with Tyler, which was the point’s race. We were coming around for the second set of points and I was on Tyler’s wheel. He started the sprint in corner 3 and it was between he and I for the points. I came around him in corner 4 and we were neck to neck coming down the home stretch, and at the end we both threw our bikes to the finish. That sprint was so close that they decided to give the points to Tyler, however the feeling that I was that close to beating him, or might have beaten him if the camera was there, was so amazing. I could not stop talking about it because I was so honored to race with Tyler Farrar!
-Thorsten Askervold
(photos and report courtesy of Thorsten Askervold)
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