Sylvester Szmyd of Movistar team experienced a very disappointing season. After abandoning his typical racing schedule, Pole has fully dedicated himself to the preparations for the Tour de France, eventually finding himself amongst the riders who missed a spot in a strong roster of the Spanish team. It was only during the Vuelta a Espana, when Polish cyclist, dictating as furious pace as usual, again reminded why he is considered one of the most reliable domestiques in the professional peloton. Currently he has started early preparations for an upcoming season and he shared his sensations on his official website.

The cyclist began his preparations with testing new equipment, since after many years of collaboration, team Movistar parts with Nalini and Pinarello, while return to regular training is scheduled for the second half of November.

"Short but meaningful. Such cardiovascular tests, biomechanics, testing new bikes, fitting new things and shoes. A lot of changes because from the new year, after many years, the team says goodbye to Nalini and Pinarello, and for the first time even shoes will be the same for the whole team," Szmyd said about his early preparations

"I like a lot a new bike, but you have to ride it a little bit to be able to say something more," he shared his first sensations

While in previous years, the Pole used to follow very repetitive schedule of starts, last season in the Movistar team evidently changed his point of view. Szmyd admits that at present the most essential issue is to avoid a situation in which he again would have been prevented from the start in the race, to which was specially prepared.

"Our schedule is not ready, for now everyone have pointed out their most preferred races and it’s up to the bosses to make it work. I actually do not care if I ride the Giro or Tour de France. Important is to know for sure where I will go and thus to be able to calmly prepare for it," Szmyd explained

The rider also priced the beauty of this year’s autumn, which has allowed to ride in comfortable weather conditions and should positively affect the planned beginning of a build-up for the upcoming season.

“With average temperatures ranging around 20 degrees I was riding a bike whole autumn, maybe not every day though. Now, for a few days, I’m getting off the bike just to start my preparations in earnest from about November 20th.”