There is nothing lucky about Calvin Watson’s (Trek) rise to fame. But the way he received his opportunity to defend his Herald Sun Tour title was. He is only taking part in the race as the Jayco U23 team were a man short due to a withdrawal and his Trek team are not taking part.

 

"The race this year is completely different scenario to last year, obviously the field is a lot higher quality so there are no easy stages this year so it's been pretty chaotic racing and pretty stressful but I'm enjoying the tour and I'm happy to be back here," Watson told Cyclingnews.

 

The race will come down to the triple-ascent of Arthur's Seat on the Mornington Peninsula on Sunday afternoon, with the Amy's Ride Grand Fondo taking place prior to the stage ensuring large crowds on the slopes of the climb.

 

"Tomorrow is going is to be the day when all the fireworks happen and the overall is shaped and whether Simon [Clarke] is strong enough to win, we'll have to see tomorrow."

 

"I'm going to give it a crack tomorrow, I've been saving myself for much of the week just trying to give myself the best opportunity to give it a go tomorrow but I'll have to see how the legs are and if I have good legs then ill try to stay with the best guys and fight it out."

When his Australian racing period ends, he will travel back to his new home in france where he has set up his base in Nice.

 

He isn’t having too much trouble adapting to life in Europe either:

 

"For me that's important as I'm still young and I need to learn off guys who I have faith and trust in. Simon Gerrans has been a massive impact on me making the move to France. I think I can only be in safe hands when Simon is looking after me."

 

"I speak better Italian than French but hopefully throughout the year I can learn French, but I do want to continue to speak Italian. I'm lucky that the main language of Trek is English so I'm not in a bad place."

 

He announced his race schedule for Europe as well:

 

"After the Sun Tour I go back to Europe and start at the Tour of Catalunya, Romandie, Tour of California and Dauphiné. For me it's been a bit of a quieter start to the year, I haven't been preparing a huge amount to be in super condition in January but my goal is to be in top shape by Dauphiné so I'm on the right path."